){kind=logo}
){kind=icon}
){kind=logo}
){kind=icon}
The Institute for the Future of Education promotes research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in educational innovation by collaborating with professionals worldwide to address today’s educational challenges and create the future of education.
Designing an ecosystem that can provide solutions to the challenges facing education on a global scale is “la raison d’être” (“the reason for being”) for the new Institute for the Future of Education (IFE) at Tecnológico de Monterrey. José Escamilla, Associate Director of the IFE, noted that the Institute would work to disseminate and transfer the educational innovations that arise there. “Education has to arm people to reinvent themselves increasingly faster (…) this involves equipping them with skills like ‘learning to learn,’ managing technology, and working in teams,” he said in an interview for CONECTA.
The Institute’s launch took place during the 7th International Conference for Educational Innovation (CIIE) held December 14 to 18, 2020. At CIIE, participants discussed Tec’s interest in promoting education as a vehicle for development and connection. “The Institute for the Future of Education will be the space in which we all can connect and create since innovation is a process that requires the best talent from around the world,” said José Antonio Fernández, President of the Board of Directors of Tec de Monterrey, during the virtual event.
For his part, David Garza, Rector and Executive President of Tec noted at the launch event that this new Institute would expand programs and strategies that were already being carried out at the institution. “We have been doing educational innovation for a long time, but now we want to do it with greater impact while also strengthening education research,” he said. “We also want to innovate and promote entrepreneurship, so that from our work, a startup or company emerges that continues contributing to the ecosystem of education,” Garza added.
The pillars of the Institute for the Future of Education
The new Institute will focus on the needs of higher education and lifelong learning. Escamilla pointed out that forms of connection, inspiration, and accompaniment will be created to generate disruptive projects in higher education topics. He emphasized that the focus on lifelong learning is an increasingly important issue. “Besides, we realized that this is an area where there are very little research and development, yet, adult education is very relevant to the country and the world,” he pointed out.
“The Institute’s dream is to create the future of education to improve the lives of millions of people,” Escamilla emphasized. To achieve this, he noted that the Institute for the Future of Education is based on three pillars for the generation and transfer of knowledge: Transforming, connecting and making it a reality.
Transforming
Open platforms will be created for research that generates innovation in educational issues. It will also be sought that these innovations get translated into entrepreneurship, licensing, consulting, and continuing education programs.
Connecting
The IFE will promote collaborative work among educational institutions, the private and public sectors, and society.
Making it happen
Constructing an entire ecosystem that improves educational quality is driven by the generation of knowledge, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Initiatives underway
The Institute for the Future of Education will help advocate initiatives that Tec de Monterrey has already undertaken to support its global arena positioning. Some of the existing initiatives that the Institute will be impulsing are:
Tec21 Educational Model
In 2012, Tecnologico de Monterrey took the first steps toward renewing its educational model to evolve toward training that focuses on real challenges that lead to learning and acquiring skills for life. In 2019, the first student generation entered the programs that apply 100% of the Tec21 Model, which offers educational training with flexibility in how, when, and where one learns, an environment of inspiring professors, and a memorable university experience.
Experimentation
More than one million dollars are invested each year to fund 130 professor projects with educational innovation themes.
Research
More than 300 articles on educational innovation were published in journals in the last two years, registered in the Scopus database, and presented at international education conferences. “This has placed Tec as the university with the most publications on educational innovation in the world in the last five years,” Escamilla pointed out.
Transfer of educational innovation
The intellectual property of educational innovation projects has been addressed. Tec also has an incubator and accelerator that promote the creation of educational startups.
Open innovation
Through an annual competition, the TPrize incentivizes educational projects to close education gaps in Latin America. The winners receive guidance and follow-up for two years.
International Conference on Educational Innovation (CIIE)
CIIE has been a space for seven years that brings together experts, academicians, and organizations that showcase educational innovations worldwide. “Last year, we had almost 3800 participants from more than 20 countries. Already, it is the most important Spanish-speaking congress,” Escamilla stated.
Observatory of Educational Innovation
The Observatory promotes and disseminates free educational resources such as webinars, interviews, news, and a weekly newsletter specializing in education. “It has a mission to share best practices on this subject with teachers and administrators worldwide. It has more than half a million followers and 200 thousand subscribers to the weekly report,” the manager shared.
Next steps
There are new initiatives that the Institute for the Future of Education will launch in the short and medium-term, such as:
Laboratory of Excellence
Researchers from other regions of the world will be incorporated into the Institute to address artificial intelligence applications, data sciences in education, lifelong learning, and cognitive sciences. “We want it to be a leader in publications, for its relevance and potential to revolutionize education in the way people learn,” Escamilla said.
Data HUB in educational innovation
“We will make available to researchers inside and outside of Tec the data that the institution generates to do research (…) we have that data, and we want to make it accessible to almost anyone,” the Director explained. “This will also help ensure a better link between the professors at Tec and teachers from other institutions.”
Living Lab
Through this laboratory, you will be able to test ideas, technologies, and methodologies, understand how they function, improve them, and eventually impact other universities worldwide. “We want Tec to be a laboratory that allows us to make pilots, experiment, and test new ideas in education. We call it the living laboratory because, here, we will work with our teachers and with our students,” Escamilla pointed out.
The Associate Director of the Institute for the Future of Education at Tec concluded that the work carried out within it will translate into high value for society. “Higher education and lifelong learning can drive economic impact, generate international talent, and improve people’s lives, which in the end is the most important thing,” he said.
Translation by Daniel Wetta.
){kind=icon}
){kind=icon}
This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
)