Important Personalities in Universidad 2012, Cuba

The presence of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Argentine Adolfo Perez Esquivel, will honor the 8th University Congress in February, said First Deputy Minister of Higher Education Rodolfo Alarcon.

For the first time there will be a Nobel Prize laureate in our event, Alarcon told Prensa Latina in reference to these biennial forums held in Havana from 1998.

“This man has fought for peace his entire life, which earned him the prize,” added the education official who said there would be some 250 distinguished guests, including ministers and rectors. There will be 3,200 delegates, including 800 from Cuban Universities, to the Feb. 13-17 conference to be held at the Havana-based the Convention Center.

The program consists of some 2,000 papers from 60 countries which Alarcon says will be a legacy to global higher education because they will be available on the Internet for all who wish to consult them.

On the record attendance to this Congress, the vice minister said the relations of cooperation and the debates at the forum make it the most important in Latin America and one of the world’s largest.

He said the presence of Perez Esquivel among the guests even at times of economic crisis is part of the international recognition of Cuba’s education prestige.

The organizers also expect Brazilian churchman and civil fighter Frei Betto and the UNESCO Assistant Director General for Education, Chinese Qian Tang.

Taken from Prensa Latina