University - Friday, March 17, 2023

"We delivered to the country the first professionals trained from the Universities of Peace Program", Unicauca

Five graduates from different scattered rural areas of the department of Cauca, received their professional title as agricultural and agro-industrial engineers this Friday, March 17, at the Francisco José de Caldas Auditorium. These young people go down in history as the first professionals trained thanks to the Universities for Peace Program, promoted by the National Government.

In 2016, under the mandate of former President Juan Manuel Santos and thanks to the initiative of the National Government to develop the Universities of Peace Program, a process whose main purpose was to promote spaces for the construction of Peace and provide opportunities for access to Higher Education, the University of Cauca was fortunate to be linked to this important proposal and to be selected as one of the seven universities chosen at the country level to carry out this program, through which scholarships were offered so that young people belonging to areas affected by the armed conflict could access university education.

In this sense, the Cauca Alma Mater provided scholarships so that young people from the north and south of the department of Cauca had the opportunity to study Agricultural Engineering and Agroindustrial Engineering. The program consisted in the fact that during the first two years the young people studied from their region and the following three years they carried out their studies in the city of Popayán, with support.

“The Ministry of Education proposed the program as a way to especially include young people from dispersed areas, not necessarily from urban centers, but from what has been called dispersed rurality, even in conflict contexts, these were the targeting criteria so that students could access it”, says the teacher Mónica Risueño Solarte, who served as Academic Coordinator of the Universities of Peace Program, between 2017 and 2019.

In this way, students like Anthony Leandro Hinestroza Ríos, from the municipality of Puerto Tejada, studied at the North Campus of the University of Cauca, with the opportunity to train as a professional and strengthen their life project. "Through the scholarship, the university gave us the opportunity to carry out a productive project that consists of setting up a fruit processing plant, to benefit producers from municipalities in northern Cauca, such as Villa Rica and Puerto Tejada," says Anthony. , who together with his partner Miguel Leandro Ballesteros, presented their degree work and this was financed by the Universities of Peace Program.

Similarly, Lina Marcela Burbano Valencia, from the municipality of El Bordo, says that thanks to an announcement that came out in the Mayor's Office of her municipality, she was able to access the scholarship and thus study the first semesters of her degree in her place of origin and whose formative process concluded in the city of Popayán. In this regard, she mentions that "It is a very good experience because many of us do not have the opportunity to pursue a degree and it was an opportunity that I had to take."

From the University of Cauca, the work of accompaniment to all the students who acquired the scholarship continues, in order that the majority complete their process successfully. “For Agroindustrial Engineering there is 60% permanence and for Agricultural Engineering 48%. There is a group of 20 students who already have all their graduation requirements. In this ceremony there will only be five and in the next one all 20”, says the teacher Mónica Risueño Solarte.

"We have been working intensely so that an initiative such as the Universidades de Paz, can come back to life in the department of Cauca, to provide more opportunities for our young people," said Rector Deibar René Hurtado Herrera, who presided over the ceremony ratifying the purpose of our Alma Mater to transform lives through education, since from the University of Cauca, we are highly committed to strengthening a quality higher education aimed at excellence and solidarity.

Email: rectoria@unicauca.edu.co