COLOMBIA CHALLENGE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Colombia Challenge Your Knowledge (CCYK) is a non-profit network, composed by 28 Colombian Higher Education Institutions, both public and private, with presence throughout the country and accredited in high quality by the Ministry of National Education, whose mission is to promote Colombia as an international destination for quality higher education and research. The network was created in 2009 and since that year has continuously led several initiatives focused on the design, implementation, monitoring and research in the processes of internationalization of higher education in Colombia.

The main objectives of CCYK are:

• To promote and disseminate Colombian research, academic and outreach programs abroad.

• To strengthen the internationalization of the Accredited Universities in high quality education of Colombia

• To study current trends in internationalization and to promote quality processes in all Colombian higher education institutions.

• To promote active collaboration among Colombian universities, making our country a diverse and increasingly integrated campus for national and international students, as well as being a relevant and reliable partner for international education programs.

• To integrate internationalization in the curriculum of academic programs.

• To integrate strategies for strengthening second and third language in the study plans, not only as a requirement for obtaining degrees.

• To manage funds to encourage international student mobility at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

• To articulate and coordinate resources and efforts to generate greater impact and visibility of the country brand in international forums of high level, as well as international congresses of Higher Education.

• To encourage multilingualism among member institutions and promote Colombia as a destination for learning Spanish for foreigners.

TO KEEP IN MIND ABOUT CCYK

Structure and operation:

CCYK has a structure composed of a General Assembly, an Executive Direction, a Technical Secretariat and a Steering Committee. Additionally CCYK relies on a administrative entity that legally represents the Network for 3 years, and five permanent committees (Academic, Marketing, Relationship, Financial and Nature).

CCYK in numbers

360.000 active undergraduate students
71.000 active graduate students
More than 1.000 undergraduate programs in all areas of knowledge.
977 master programs
215 doctoral programs
17.000 full-time professors
2.700 research groups
73.000 research products in the last 5 years
263 patents granted
28.000 records of intellectual property in the last 5 years
6.500 international agreements
The best courses in Spanish for foreigners
15.000 international students in last 5 years.
3.500 researchers recognized by Colciencias
Products and achievements:

• International visibility of the Colombia brand as a destination country for Higher Education, through booths at conferences on the internationalization of higher education in the world (NAFSA and EAIE).
• Presentation of papers on the experience and trajectory of CCYK and its member institutions in international conferences.
• Accompaniment in the development of capacities to IES in its internationalization process.
• Positioning as a national and international reference regarding the status of the internationalization of Higher Education in Colombia.
• Development of the Guide Kit for the Internationalization of Higher Education to Colombia.
• Study of internationalization indicators.
• Coaching to IES in the process of institutional accreditation.
• Inbound Mobility Report presented at NAFSA 2016.
• Training of Colombian universities through Workshops in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín and Cartagena by research professors from California State University, Los Angeles on issues of internationalization, diversity and interculturality in Higher Education.
• Academic mission to Portland on sustainability for Higher Education in Colombia.
• Training of Colombian universities through Workshops in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín and Manizales by research professors from Portland State University, on Sustainability in Higher Education.