Citizenship, gender equality and salary equity, keys in the UP

In 2023, Dr. Fernanda Llergo Bay is nearing the end of her first term as general rector of the Universidad Panamericana and the Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresa (IPADE), one of the business schools with the longest trajectory and prestige in Mexico, and in chat with El Economista, offers a balance of what these difficult years of pandemic have been, outlines the pillars of his management at the head of the institution and anticipates what achievements he would like to conclude his assignment with.

Llergo Bay, PhD in Philosophy, with a degree in Pedagogy and a master’s degree in Government and Culture of Organizations and another in Strategic Management and Innovation Management, has behind her almost 40 years directing educational institutions. Her arrival at the general rectory of the UP, in November 2020, was a sign that something was moving forward and she represented a paradigm shift in the Pan-American educational ecosystem, as she was the first woman to hold that position.

He reached that position in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when the university was closed and he had to innovate a distance education model, without neglecting personalized attention to students and professors, “something that other universities see as innovation, but in our case it is identity”, he says.

Since 2016, she had held the position of general vice-rector of the entire UP system with offices in Mexico City, Aguascalientes (where she was vice-rector), Guadalajara and Huixquilucan. At the center of their concerns and their educational management has been the construction of citizenship, which involves the commitment to gender equality, wage equity, responsibility with the environment and determined action against poverty: “It is not about of personal interest, although it is, but it is a founding mission of the Pan American University from our Christian identity, we are committed to the formation not only of excellent students and good future business leaders, but also of good citizens; We are not interested in training only people who know, encyclopedists who walk through life, but in training people who want to serve society, the immediate society that is their family, then the country and of course the world”.

The pillars of good citizenship

To achieve this task, Dr. Llergo outlines the institutional policies that make up the academic curriculum and the adjacent activities that make up the educational model of the UP.

“Some of our students, perhaps due to a certain political or even vital disappointment, because the pandemic has revealed to us that our young people, so full of life, have moments of discouragement regarding the future, and we discovered in a survey that we did that our influence on the subject of citizenship was low, and that many students limited it to being people who vote, who pay taxes, who comply with civic norms, and our outline of citizenship is much broader, and is expressed fundamentally in academic excellence, the real high-impact social work, and in the promotion of research”.

“If our students do not achieve academic excellence, they will not be able to provide much and poor service to society in their professional practice,” adds the rector.

Additionally, he adds, “today 60% of our students, which is a higher percentage than in many private universities, carry out social work of high and medium impact, and it is not about assistance projects or charitable works, of course they are charity is immersed, but it is about social impact projects (in medical clinics, for example) that teach them to get out of themselves and go for the other; I have verified that our alumni who run companies in different parts of the world refer to the legacy that social work left them and are developing social responsibility projects in companies that they had never had before ”, he details.

Regarding the promotion of research, Llergo Bay highlights that the UP has climbed the ranking to become the second private university with the highest incidence in research products, and now it is taking an important step towards the transfer of knowledge and applied research, with a humanist cut, where what matters is to serve society, through technology, nanotechnology, and science to achieve the well-being of humanity”.

El Core Curriculum

There is a program called Core Curriculum that the Universidad Panamericana has arranged as a fundamental part of the professional training of all its students and for all careers, it is a battery of deontological and social matters that prepares them to practice the profession in a responsible, supportive and being good citizens, shares Chancellor Llergo.

It is specified in many ways, but she prefers to exemplify it with an innovative aspect in the training of students, most of them future businessmen, which is what refers to salary equity, an aspect that is addressed in the subject “Person and Society ”, and that is usually alien to most curricula, even from public universities.

“Salary equity begins with us (the UP), and it has implied a very important commitment, which is to shorten the distance between the people who earn more and those who earn less, that is, that salary increases are more for those who earn less , and this is a task that we want our students to understand, make it their own, and realize the responsibility they are going to have in their companies, because most of our students are going to have their own business, they are going to inherit the business of their parents are going to be leaders.”

The Core Curriculum is also nourished by a series of activities that put students in contact with reality, take them out of their bubble and insert them into the daily life of the majority. “This may touch the heart of some in a romantic way, we try to make it a matter that goes further, that enters rationally, because we cannot live behind the backs of the crowd, behind the backs of poverty.”

“So this helps them touch on poverty, not just theorize about it; the poverty gap that exists in Mexico has to touch the hearts of our students”.

“We are interested in knowing how to be influential in their jobs, that they know how to open their arms to different people, with different faiths, that they know how to develop dialogue, as an important task,” he adds.

Leadership and gender equality

Fernanda Llergo Bay, also president of the Council of Private Universities and Related Institutions, shares that the leadership promoted by the Pan-American educational system, with offices in four states of the country, must also be specified in the search for gender equality, to reduce the gaps economic and social, and in acting honestly.

“It would be very difficult to talk about social impact if we do not train leaders, but being a leader depends on the values ​​in which leadership is based, the purpose towards which leadership is directed is what matters most to us; we want to train good leaders, good leaders, in the double sense of the word; We want to train successful leaders, who work well, above all, who work hard, but honestly, truthfully, who are upright, who help those who come after them to develop, so that the people around them grow and think about reality. of the country and that they work to close the economic, educational and technological gaps that still persist in Mexico”.

And as an example of the inequality that women face, it provides relevant information: “During the pandemic, research carried out by women decreased by 19% because 87% of domestic care fell on women.”

This led the UP to formulate a flexible hours policy, a work model with around 16 options adaptable to individual needs, to which 25% of university personnel have been incorporated in its pilot phase and the rest will be integrated from January 2023, in such a way that the researchers and administrative collaborators can have equitable, compared to their male peers, the time necessary to attend to their professional performance and, at the same time, domestic tasks and care for their families.

He points out that this will be a big step but it is necessary for men and women to share more equitably the responsibilities at home.

Health and Wellness Ecosystem

The coronavirus pandemic that befell us in 2020 exposed many of the psychological and emotional effects that had been under the table for a long time. Mental health has emerged in recent months as a concern in all areas, at work, at school, in the family. Dr. Llergo Bay talks about how they have faced this situation in the UP.

“We have what we have called the Health and Well-being Ecosystem, which seeks to ensure training and comprehensive care for our students, as well as a work environment for teachers and collaborators that is in accordance with our institutional philosophy.”

“Obviously this program was strengthened as a result of the pandemic, but we already had it before, because the psychological effects, anxiety, stress are the product of many other things, but the pandemic changed the world and changed the mentality, and there were definitely effects on our students, our teachers and our staff, especially the fear that we experienced during the first semester, first the fear of illness and then the fear and uncertainty towards work; we lost people from the university, there were bereavements in many families, and some cases of anxiety.

To address the pandemic situation, the UP put into operation the GLASS Project, a care protocol for sensitive situations, psychological help, and confidential care to provide care to all students and collaborators who require it, as well as medical assistance, from the School of Medicine. , preventive reviews, influenza vaccination, analysis, among other supports.

However, Llergo Bay notices a motivating aspect in the return to the classroom, and it is “the creative desire” with which students and teachers have returned to face-to-face classes.

“For many it was difficult, for example the high school students who were locked up for two years and suddenly entered the university. We inaugurated 9 careers during the pandemic (two architectures, civil engineering, gastronomic business management, psychology, quantitative finance) and many students had their first semester on a Zoom screen, others are integrating into the university in person in their third or fifth semester, and that supposes a bit of fear and not knowing how to act, but we also see that there is an eagerness to return to face-to-face, although the world has changed and we are also adapting towards a hybrid education ”.

Dr. Llergo Bay hopes that at the end of her tenure, the recently created Institute of Humanities will permeate all areas of the UP, which is the one that outlines and structures the Core Curriculum and influences the leadership model promoted by the university and in raising awareness about the importance of other commitments, with gender equality and the environment, for example.

He also points out that he wants to leave a significant number of replacement cadres to occupy the first levels of management in the UP and consolidate applied research.

francisco.deanda@eleconomista.mx