Mexico City, July 20, 2023.- In order to complement the knowledge and experience in social work issues and open the vision to different perspectives internationally, Social Commitment of the Universidad Panamericana was present at the Cross Roads in Social Work.
Cross Roads in Social Work
This is an international university congress focused on social issues, organized by the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in the city of Linz, Austria; and it was Mtra. Alejandra Sanchez Gutierrez, coordinator of social projects Alejandra Sánchez Gutiérrez, coordinator of social projects at Compromiso Social, was the representative of our university at the event.
International experience
Alejandra says that during this event she had the opportunity to meet people from different countries working on social issues. She also explains that there was an opportunity to discuss and explore the different approaches to social problems, according to the culture and diversity that exists at the international level.
He also reports that attendees shared best practices and projects to solve the most relevant problems worldwide, such as migration, violence and work with the most vulnerable sectors.
A total of 16 universities from different countries were present:
- Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (Finland).
- South- Eastern Finland University (Finland).
- University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee (United States).
- Winona State University (United States).
- Concordia University of Wisconsin (United States).
- California State University (United States).
- Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg- Schweinfurt (Germany).
- Yerevan State University (Germany).
- TH Nuremberg (Germany).
- Nova Scotia Community College (Canada).
- University of the Fraser Valley (Canada).
- TU Dublin (Ireland).
- University of Plymouth (United Kingdom).
- University of Trieste (Italy).
- University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, organizer of the congress (Austria).
- Universidad Panamericana (Mexico).
Panamerican Differentiator
"The students from the participating universities were students of social work, which is very interesting because they specialize in providing services to serve communities and social problems," says Alejandra.
However, he states that one of our institution's strengths is that "with the training model at Universidad Panamericana, we are able to have students from different careers and profiles, who can develop social leadership skills".
This, he reveals, helps each project developed by Compromiso Social to have a different focus, which is a function of the knowledge that students have of their different degrees.
"In addition, our students leave prepared to contribute in different areas to permeate society with the vision of living to serve from the circumstances in which each person lives," he says.
UP Volunteer
During the congress, Alejandra, on behalf of UP Social Commitmentgave a presentation entitled The importance of training first semester students in the management of social projects..
In it, he spoke about the relevance of having programs that help our students develop skills for the management of social plans, through participation as leaders within the largest project in the area: the UP Volunteer Workshop.
"The workshop aims to transform our students into people who are sensitive to the most important issues in Mexico and to the needs of others," he says of the workshop.
Contrasts and similarities
After her participation, Alejandra confirms that Mexico, as a developing country, has social problems focused on issues of poverty, violence, education, health, among many others; unlike the other countries that were at the meeting (first world).
However, he assures: "Knowing the realities experienced in different countries is very positive, as it helps us to have a broader vision of the problems at a global level".
He also believes that, for Mexico, "it could be an incredible opportunity to take the best practices of more developed countries and, with the help of alliances, implement them in our country.
Joint opportunities
He also asserts that this participation in the congress has made it possible to meet people with expertise in different countries and social problems. "This is very positive since it is possible to generate alliances between universities, to carry out multidisciplinary and international projects, with the objective of providing solutions to the problems analyzed (at the meeting)," he says.
"We have the opportunity to give international exposure to the social projects that Panamericana organizes," she says. This, Alejandra also explains, makes it feasible to invite international students to participate in some volunteering at Panamericana, so that they can learn about the situation in our country first hand.
"The importance of generating alliances at the international level is very important to be able to solve social problems, as they are complex and are usually shared globally," he concludes.
