Indigenous Universities: A New Vision of Higher Education in a Plurinational State

Diego Pary Rodríguez

The creation of three intercultural indigenous community universities in Bolivia, which will serve the Aymara-Quechua-Guaraní nation and the Tierras Bajas peoples, is based on a historical demand. It is a different educational model, one that is based on another type of professional and will create a space for the knowledge of the original peasant and Indigenous Peoples and nations of Bolivia. This will be complemented by the knowledge of other peoples, and disseminated with communications technology.

This will not meld two different visions of development; it will simply reveal two different ways of taking advantage of the world’s available knowledge. In terms of Andean plateau agriculture, for example, the universities will incorporate the Aymara worldview, who they are, how they think, what their culture represents along with the creation of terraces for intensive farming, the determination of the appropriate terrain gradient, and the knowledge of what additional elements should be put into the soil, of when to sow, and of how deep the seeds should go. These systems and knowledge are developed within and by the people.

The traditions of Indigenous Peoples are mostly oral, and written records exist only in weavings. This time, all new and recovered knowledge will be recorded in written documents so that it can be further disseminated.

The creation of indigenous universities is an irreversible process that will transform post-secondary education. These universities will have a decision-making and coordination body, the so-called community councils, where all the social organizations of the relevant region will participate.

The universities will offer degrees in Andean plateau agriculture, food industry, forestry, fish farming, tropical agriculture, hydrocarbons, veterinary medicine, and animal breeding. Curricula will be proposed and built by those social organizations and representatives of the original peasant and indigenous nations and peoples, therefore responding to their stated needs.

Different peoples within Bolivia speak different languages, but each of them will receive instruction in small groups, with a strong individual component, so the educational process can take place in their own language.
There is some experience with the use of cross-trained teachers in rural areas that can deliver two or three different courses, but the new universities will still require a more specific system to be developed.

Indigenous universities will teach in three languages: Spanish, English, and each group’s first language. This will help teach a second language, improve communication, and facilitate the use of knowledge from other peoples that speak English. Additionally, for that knowledge that is transmitted in, say, Quechua, students will have to learn Quechua. New methodology and teaching and learning systems will be incorporated along the way.

It has been decided that indigenous communities will choose what students attend their universities, because the goal is for these students to commit to their communities. Students should return to their communities after completing their studies, not become isolated from them.

These students should become development promoters within their own communities, people with their own identity that can think and implement ways for the community to develop and “living well.” Communities will have better basic living conditions, and will be able to utilise and transform production, therefore generating financial resources that will allow them to lead a dignified life.

Bolivia wants to strengthen post-secondary education through a process of decentralization and diversification. This will consolidate its status as a fundamental right for all Bolivians.

Indigenous universities will give access to higher education to those segments of the population that never had the chance to attend public universities. Bolivia is building a new space for those that have been historically discriminated against.

It is also a way of strengthening Bolivia’s plurinational character. Bolivians are diverse, they represent different cultural characteristics, identities, worldviews and peoples, but we all have the same rights.

Indigenous universities will strengthen original peasant and indigenous nations and peoples, because today their knowledge has become stagnant. Before colonization, these peoples had their own organization and production systems, even their own form of state. The colonial power imposed a way of life that dismantled these systems.
Today, it is clear that Indigenous Peoples can create knowledge and innovation, and we can base it on our own vision and cultural identity. Indigenous universities will help us accomplish this.

Diego Pary Rodríguez is Bolivia’s Deputy Minister for Post-Secondary Education and Professional Training.