An Institutional Experience of Higher Education, Solidarity Economy and Institutional Planning

The cooperative and solidarity community in is well established. According to data provided by the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia (UCC), some 4.5 million Colombians belong to cooperatives. Most of these cooperatives (61.84%) are microenterprises, of which only 2.14% are classified as large enterprises. This set-up of small cooperatives means that a broad sector of the less well-off members of society are able to belong to them, which brings about economic and social development in their communities.
UCC is known as the university of the solidarity sector as it is deeply involved in providing training, support and consultancy services for cooperatives and professionals in the sector. The university currently has 38,903 students on 23 campuses throughout the country, which means that it is able to perform its duties on a decentralized basis and within the context of local environments.

UCC was founded in 1958 and was originally an organization for training people who worked in cooperatives. It was set up as a higher education institution in 1964. The origins of this university have had a clear influence on its current mission and institutional structure.

UCC is run based on an assembly system consisting of the cooperatives that founded the university, federations of cooperatives, foundations and a patron. A governing council was constituted by order of the assembly. This council manages university policy and appoints the national rector.

Another feature that distinguishes UCC from other institutions is the accent that is places on training and the support it gives to institutions and professionals involved in the solidarity economy. The university thus provides education and training at undergraduate and postgraduate level to cooperative managers, civil servants and associates. Research is carried out on quality and efficiency in the socioeconomic management of cooperatives, employee pools and mutual associations. Continuing education is provided for professionals working in the solidarity economy by means of its extension programmes.

Furthermore, the university’s curricula integrate the skills and knowledge required to carry out professional tasks in the solidarity economy. UCC is a general university in which all activities are oriented toward the solidarity economy. For example, all the curricula include specific subjects aimed at the solidarity economy and also include specialist modules that focus on this topic. Finally, professionals that graduate from UCC acquire training aimed at building political, creative and solidarity criteria, together with the basic knowledge required for carrying out their jobs.

While the university performs the usual activities of a higher education institution, these activities are carried out with a sense of social responsibility, as can be seen from the following examples:

• 2001-2006 National Strategic Plan (PEN): Mobilization for Excellence. The purpose of this plan was to encourage a more efficient management of the institution and to promote the active participation of all the university’s bodies in this task. The plan thus aimed to achieve a more cohesive institution with a common perspective on action and to make the social responsibility of the university an integral part of its institutional management in terms of efficient use of resources, shared management and the transfer of experiences.

To this end, the university implemented tools such as an Annual Balance Sheet, a Management Indicators System, Management Reports, Benchmarking, Ongoing Improvement Plans and Teamwork Networks for Ongoing Improvement.

The first annual prize for best practices in academic and administrative management of the Universidad Cooperativa de was created in 2004.For this purpose, each university body simultaneously issues calls and disseminates successful practices by categories based on the programmes in the strategic plan. Subsequently, the bodies choose 2 or 3 practices and submit them to the National Planning Board (DPN). A monitoring committee is appointed, which verifies and assesses the presentations made to the Governing Council, before which each university body presents its best practices in a predefined format. A jury chooses the best national practice by category and the best practice overall. The winners are awarded cash prizes to ensure the continuity of these practices. The following year, the DPN follows up and promotes the transfer of the best practice to most university bodies.

The aim of this prize is to reward the effort and commitment of the Teamwork Networks for Ongoing Improvement (TREMEC Networks) and the results obtained by carrying out projects or activities are included in the annual action plans.

The main results of the creation of the Annual Prize for best practices in the academic and administrative management of UCC are the following:

• Two hundred referenced and disseminated practices in the three editions of the prize.
• Each year, the participants are more enthusiastic and the practices have a greater scope for transfer.
• Synergies of communication and action between university bodies have been strengthened.
• The evaluation parameters and requirement levels of the judging panels have been adjusted from year to year. A verification mechanism at the site of the practices was implemented in 2005. The selection was performed earlier in 2006 and a higher level of transfer was required of the 2005 winners. Furthermore judges were chosen from outside the institution; GUNI took part in this process.
• The practices chosen in the dynamics generated at an institutional level strengthened the commitment to innovation and good quality social responsibility.
• In 2007, the practice was adopted by the Banco de Experiencias Significativas (Significant Experiences Bank) of the Ministry of National Education.
• Notable practices at national level include the following:
  • Creation of the Editorial Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia press (EDUCC), with collections and journals for all areas of knowledge and calls for publications on the thinking and work of the members of the university community.
  • The Monitores Solidarios programme, in which students in their final years provide transdisciplinary support for associative forms of production.
  • The Budget Information System (SIPRES), which allows the university bodies to draw up budgets online, consolidates national data and contributes information to processes of academic and administrative decision-making.
  • Creation of the Free Department of Solidarity Economy, which is called simultaneously from all the bodies and which attracts 20,000 people each year.
  • Construction and implementation of the Institutional Department, which participates in all curricula and focuses on the institutional development, solidarity economy and training professionals with political criteria and a perspective of the social responsibility of the university.

2004; ongoing