Building Research Communities And Collaborative Networks In Latin America And The Caribbean: Laccei Vision And Initiatives

Many engineering education organizations and agencies exist world-wide at the international, regional, national, and local levels. Some of them have specific initiatives conceived to provide capacity building. The need to identify, develop and execute activities directed to advance skills and competencies of engineers and improve process and community infrastructures is calling for engineering education organizations, industry, government and academia to share perspectives, resources, and expertise to effectively and efficiently meet these challenges. This paper aims to document the perspectives and current initiatives of the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions, LACCEI. It also describes future initiatives that require collaborations with other organizations, with the hope that these collaborations can materialize, and progress can be made to develop global engineers for the Americas. In October 2006, LACCEI initiated an Engineering Collaboration Agreement for the Americas that has been signed by seven multinational organizations; the results obtained during the first two years and how other organizations can join the agreement is also described.