Associate dean dispels Latin American myths

Speaking to higher education's top officials from both the U.S. and abroad, Mathew Anderson, associate dean for business and liberal arts at Arizona Western College, dispelled misconceptions about Latin American education at Washington, D.C.'s, recent annual conference of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

Anderson ought to know. His firsthand experience in Nicaragua as academic dean and later provost/rector of the Latin American campus of Ave Maria (associated with the Ave Maria University in Florida) enables him to share inside knowledge of the progress being made there.

He spent five years re-establishing, directing and promoting the only major land campus of a U.S. university in Central America. Prior to leaving there, he also started a language institute in El Salvador.

As one of only two Arizona speakers at the conference, Anderson and his co-presenter shared their experiences with conference participants, who included top officials in education from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Congress, England, Taiwan, Chile and the United Nations, to list a few.

“My purpose in our presentation was to highlight Latin American efforts to introduce accountability in higher education since the early 1900s,” Anderson said. He added that he also wanted inform the participants of the quality improvement efforts taking place in universities and institutions of higher learning throughout the region.

Although a huge diversity exists among the 19 Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, some observable, noteworthy trends and patterns were of interest to his audience, Anderson said. Guaranteed public funding with minimal to no public accountability has historically been the way that the universities have functioned there. However, this has changed because of pressures and challenges of higher education.

Anderson said that the campus where he worked had to meet various criteria from multiple agencies so as to arrive at an understanding and partnership with governmental authorities and the leadership of the Nicaraguan universities without sacrificing its unique mission and values. Despite this, there is much academic freedom, he said.

“I met with Nicaraguan President Ortega on two different occasions and with his ministers on a regular basis,” Anderson said. “President Ortega was appreciative of our institution's presence and grateful for our efforts to make a U.S. style liberal arts education available to Nicaraguan students with limited resources.”

Most people do not realize that some of the Latin American counties, notably Chile and Argentina, began working systematically for quality education even before European countries, Australia and the Middle East, “which comes as a surprise to many people - even many educators,” Anderson said.

In his ongoing research, Anderson says that “a lot of people in higher education have been following what is happening in Latin America.” He says that to his knowledge, there has never been a presentation that focused upon quality assurance and accreditation in Latin America in prior CHEA conferences.

Anderson said that what prompted him to work for higher education in Latin America was an advertisement for positions in Nicaragua for Ave Maria College of Michigan for which both he and his wife qualified. Interestingly, it was Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, with whom Anderson worked closely to help get the college re-established.

“It seemed like a custom made opportunity for us,” Anderson said referring to an advertisement from Ave Maria College in which both of them qualified for their respective disciplines. “I valued the opportunity to influence future leaders of the region positively through education at this highly sought institution."

Anderson said he found the young people of Nicaragua to be open to the ideals of democracy, to the free market system of economy and to a strong grounding in ethics.

“They are motivated to work hard to improve things not only for themselves but also for their families and their country,” he said.

Although the opportunity was great for improving education in Latin America, some aspects associated with the job were rather frightening by American standards. Because of the disparity between the elite and the impoverished people of the countries, crimes against those perceived to have wealth was rather common.

"I had a high-profile job,” Anderson said. “If you are associated with money, you are a target." He mentioned that on one occasion he was followed from the airport when returning to his house. Because of the high profile nature of his job, he had to have personal protection.

“In El Salvador it was even more complicated because of the gangs there,” Anderson said.  Consequently, his job there required “a more sophisticated level of security." A threat to his family prompted his return to the United States.

“My first experiences in Central America overwhelmed me with a sense of the huge diversity and great disparities that exist in the region. I left there with a deep respect for the work that is going on in Latin America to make higher education relevant, effective and available to all who want it.”

He added that more students seek higher education as a means to prosperity. Because of that, education has become a global activity that is easily exportable via the internet. Also, businesses are becoming more vocal about their personnel needs, he said.

“All this translates to more accountability for institutions of higher education, greater participation of stake holders and a healthier mix of self-monitoring and external scrutiny,” Anderson said.

AWC was well represented,” Anderson said of the CHEA conference, noting that the only other Arizona speaker listed on the agenda at the CHEA conference was Jorge Klor de Alva, director of the National Research Center at the University of Phoenix.