The opening speech at the 14th General Conference of the International Association of Universities (IAU) welcomed attendees and thanked the hosts at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. Over the past four years since the last IAU conference, the world has faced challenges like natural disasters, economic crisis, and conflict, while issues of access, ethics, and social responsibility in higher education remain priorities. The conference will explore alternative pathways for higher education to help address complex global issues through teaching, research, and international cooperation.

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Opening Speech
Juan Ramon de la Fuente, President, International Association of Universities (IAU)
Honorable Kenneth McClintock
Secretary of State,
Puerto Rico
Mr. Luis Plaza Mariota
Chairman, Board of Trustees,
Inter American University of Puerto Rico,
Puerto Rico
Mr. Manuel J. Fernós
President,
Inter American University of Puerto Rico,
Puerto Rico
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Colleagues and Friends,
Welcome to the 14th General Conference of the International Association of Universities.
I would like to thank all of those who have made this possible: members of the local committee,
the community of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, and most of all, I would like to
thank its board member, president and good friend, Manuel Fernós.
I also acknowledge the presence of the members of our board, who represent the various regions
around the world that encompass IAU, and our Secretary General, Eva Egron‐Polak, who very
efficiently runs our Secretariat in Paris. I thank her and her staff not only for their hard work in
organizing this conference together with the local committee and the program committee, but for
what they have done over the past several years.
Since our last General Conference in Utrecht in 2008, many things have happened and a lot of
things have changed. Four years is a long time in higher education. It represents the graduation of
a new generation of students; it reflects the subtle influence of changing scholar and research
priorities and, for all the treasured independence of the academic world, it demonstrates the
impact of government policies, social dynamics and economic conditions for universities, and yet,
the benefits for society provided by universities remain clear priorities for a better world:
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• The creation of new knowledge
• The sensitive development of informed citizens and leaders in almost every field
• The provision of much needed expert professional skills, among many others
A world that has also undergone profound changes in the four years since the Utrecht Conference:
• The toll of natural disasters
• The economic crisis that has brought great hardship to many people in most, if not every
country
• The war on terror and drug trafficking with its inadmissible toll on death and suffering,
among others
In the midst of this complexity, the IAU has played its role and I believe it has played it well, as a
global forum for higher education leaders, helping institutions to promote, through teaching,
research and services, the principles of
• Freedom and justice
• Human dignity
• Solidarity
Contributing through international cooperation in the strengthening of higher education.
If you look carefully, you will realize that most of the IAU’s thematic priorities remain very much in
vogue; they are part of the Global Agenda:
• Internationalization
• Intercultural Dialogue
• Sustainable Development
• Equitable access and success
• The delicate issues on ethics and higher education, which the late Professor Pier Ugo
Calzolari, our Treasurer, was so committed to, and a wide range of social responsibilities
The question is, how are we addressing all these challenges?
In societal terms, how can we be more useful to society?
Are we becoming so expensive in relation to other social needs to the point that we jeopardize our
own support?
Are we the expectations of the youth, for the future?
This conference will deal with these and other questions related precisely to the Global Agenda:
pathways to the future and alternative pathways. To best explore new pathways we need to dare,
and we need to learn to dare.
• Higher education is to be a voice for values, not to be silent
• Higher education is to be a model for international cooperation, not for international
exploitation
• Higher education represents the culture of dialogue and therefore the best possible
dialogue between cultures
But higher education goes beyond that and it has to tackle so many things that it is very difficult to
set priorities. In addition, some respond that the problems we are faced with today are too
complex, that our resources are too modest, that other tasks are too pressing. Abraham Lincoln
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once said, “The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion… so must
we think anew…”
So this conference is devoted to thinking anew. What are the alternative pathways to the future,
and, if I may say, to the stormy present?
Universities existed throughout most of the last millennium and they will, I trust, through this one.
But the crucial question is how effectively our work and that of our graduates can contribute to
the momentous challenges that now confront the world’s peoples.
If ever there was a need for a critical review and for creativity and for innovation, then it is here,
within our own institutions.
For those of you who are newcomers, I trust you will find the IAU a friendly association, one that
shares the principles of solidarity, respect for diversity and collaboration; one that is open, willing
to share, learning to do better, to be better, to know better in this rapidly changing world, where
no definite answers to new and old problems seem to be at hand, at least not yet.
To me it has been an honor and a privilege to serve it for 12 years now, and the last four years as
its President, with outstanding colleagues on the Board, the Executive Committee and the
Secretariat.
The hospitality of our friends here in San Juan has been fantastic; many thanks once again. I think
we are all set for a great Conference.
End of Opening speech.
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