New Americas Quarterly on Higher Education Released

How can universities prepare students for the global economy? The Summer 2014 issue of Americas Quarterly, released on July 29, explores ways that universities, community colleges, and exchange programs are helping the region’s youth prepare for the future and the global economy. We examine the challenges today’s students face—from outdated curricula to the rising cost of a college degree and the resulting debt burden, and the quality of education—to understand the challenges and the modern wave of student protests that have swept the hemisphere.

In this issue, Charles Hale explains how and why Latin American studies remains relevant, while Indira Palacios-Valladares reports on student protest movements in Latin America and their politics. Jesus Velasco proposes a series of means to help Mexico—and other countries—retain top academics; Carol Stax Brown explains why U.S. community colleges and vocational schools in Latin America are essential and what they can learn from one another to better serve the needs of their students and economies; and Timothy DeVoogd describes firsthand how science and technology-focused exchange programs in Chile, Colombia, and Brazil are already benefitting those countries’ students and businesses. Plus, our AQ Charticle shows how different U.S. states treat undocumented students who want to access public higher education.

AQ also looks at return migration in Mexico, Cuba-EU relations, and Venezuela’s political and economic future. In a special section on the Dominican Republic’s 2013 court decision to deny citizenship to descendants of undocumented Haitian immigrants, Santiago A. Canton and Wade H. McMullen, Jr. explain the human rights consequences, and acclaimed writers Edwidge Danticat and Junot Díaz discuss the shared history between the two countries and the tragedy of recent politics.

Finally, for the third year in a row, AQ presents the Social Inclusion Index, featuring all-new data, a new country—Argentina—and rankings of two new indicators: access to justice and disability rights. See how the countries in the region stack up.  In accompanying articles, Joan Caivano and Jane Marcus-Delgado discuss women’s rights in the hemisphere, and Matthew Budd and Marcela Donadio look at insecurity in Central America and its relationship to social inclusion.

Read the table of contents and check out the AQ app. Subscribe now to take advantage of our special limited-time discount.

In This Issue:

FEATURE SECTION: Higher Education and Competitiveness

The Future of Latin American Studies
CHARLES HALE
The prospects have never been better.

Protest U.
INDIRA PALACIOS-VALLADARES
Latin America’s students are angry—and getting angrier.

Student Debt
CAROLINA RAMIREZ
A threat to the region’s middle class?

Academic Brain Drain
JESUS VELASCO
Why won’t U.S.-trained Mexican scholars come home?

Indigenous Enrollment
ÁLVARO JOSÉ MEJÍA ARIAS
In Colombia, it’s easier planned than achieved.

Technical Colleges: The Next Frontier
CAROL STAX BROWN
Meeting the needs of a global labor market.

Private Sector: A New Player
GABRIEL SÁNCHEZ ZINNY
Investment in high-tech, higher ed.

A Science Class for the Hemisphere
TIMOTHY DEVOOGD
U.S.-Latin American study abroad programs deliver results in Chile, Colombia and Brazil.

The Promise of MOOCs
JUAN CRISTÓBAL BONNEFOY
Is online education a fad—or a tool?

CHARTICLE: Immigrant Access to Higher Ed
KATE BRICK AND LEANI GARCÍA
A state-by-state analysis.

ASK THE EXPERTS
What should be done to improve standardization for degrees and disciplines for higher education in the Americas? Francisco Suárez Hernández, Arturo Cherbowski Lask, Amgad Shehata, and Salvador Alva Gómez respond.

AQ UPFRONT

A View from the Diaspora
RICHARD ANDRÉ
A conversation with writers Edwidge Danticat and Junot Díaz.

Whose Country Is It?
SANTIAGO A. CANTON AND WADE H. MCMULLEN, JR.
The citizenship squabble in the D.R. is riddled with mistruths and distortions.

Venezuela in Torment
BORIS MUÑOZ
Will the country make it to the next elections?

DEPARTMENTS

Dispatches from the Field: Return Migration: Nathaniel Parish Flannery, with researchers Miryam Hazán and Carlos López Portillo Maltos. Can Mexico exploit its new demographic dividend?

Panorama: Competitive eating in the U.S., Quemada-Diez’ new film La Jaula de Oro, 10 Things to Do in Patagonia, Latin America at the Sochi Winter Olympics, and more.

Hard Talk: Will warming Cuba-EU ties open up U.S.-Cuba relations? Sarah Stephens and Joel Brito debate.

Innovators: Lisa Besserman helps tech startups in Buenos Aires. X Alfonso tears down cultural walls in Cuba. Claudia López battles Colombia’s corrupt politicians. Oriol Gutierrez promotes HIV awareness.

Policy Updates: Cynthia Arnson on Colombia’s elections. Jaana Remes and Patricia Ellen on Brazil’s insular economy.

Policy Advocacy: Raúl Rodríguez-Barocio makes the case for coordinated NAFTA-TTIP and TPP negotiations.

Fresh Look Reviews: Anthony Spanakos looks at Venezuela before Chávez. Roger-Mark De Souza examines Indigenous rights and Amazon oil conflicts. Johanna Mendelson Forman on new approaches to regional security.

Just the Numbers: Traffic death rates across the Americas.