From Conventional Higher Education to Intercultural Higher Education

Abstract

In recent decades, when referring to higher education for indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, thinking about access to the tertiary education system tends to be reduced, that is to say: inclusion or quotas in synonym of representativeness, in accordance with this approach it can be affirmed that, the first intentions to provide a higher education to these historically marginalized populations were developed through inclusive actions within higher education institutions that are called conventional; However, with the passage of time the demands of indigenous populations are mainly exercised with greater rigor in terms of being able to have their own educational system, which responds to the standards of quality and relevance established by the same peoples and communities, there the emergence and transition from a conventional higher education to an intercultural higher education. This essay presents a bibliographic review on the topic Higher Education in Latin America and focuses on the experience of Nicaragua. The issue of interculturality in tertiary education is mainly addressed, and particularly some directions that universities or institutions of intercultural community character should or are taking. The approaches are intended to clearly establish the impact that intercultural community universities have had, by setting the issue of interculturality on the agenda, and even more so that positions are adopted to facilitate interculturalization of higher education as a topic of discussion, of reflection and concrete rethinking for acting in educational systems.