The Doctorate in Higher University Education, a joint degree between the Universidad AustralThe Inter-American Open University and the National University of Río Negro, is a success that has students from the country and several foreigners.

It began with its first cohort in 2019, and the fifth cohort started in 2022. It is a unique case of an inter-institutional doctoral program, offering a dual degree shared between private and state-run universities. Each semester, the program includes one intensive week of in-person instruction, with the remainder completed online. This particular session took place in July in Buenos Aires, coinciding with the nationwide school break.

International students who came to the city took the opportunity to explore it and participate in activities outside of university. We spoke with them to hear about their experience.

Lucía Caballero Vico (46) He has been teaching at the University of the Republic of Uruguay for 25 years and has been directing the Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration at the University of Business of Uruguay for 15 years. He said that he came to the Doctorate through the recommendation of one of his professors, Dr. Claudio Rama, who highly recommended it to him to complete his academic training.

Lucía Caballero Vico.

"I am a Certified Public Accountant, I have a Master's degree in Business Administration, and I have been a management teacher for almost 25 years, but I have no training in education. This doctorate is allowing me to complete my training, so that I can perform my academic management activities more effectively," said Lucía.

She said the week in Buenos Aires was "excellent." "The camaraderie with classmates is always a pleasure, and the exchange with professors in class is very constructive. It's very enriching to be able to share experiences with professionals from diverse fields and countries with very different realities, who all share a connection to higher education. For me, that week of in-person classes is invaluable. Regarding the online format, it's not that one modality is better than the other, but rather that they complement each other very well," she explained.

Regarding whether she would recommend the PhD, Lucía didn't hesitate: "Without a doubt, it's an excellent option for those dedicated to education, or for those like me who hold management positions in educational institutions and have a background in other areas," she concluded.

Coincidentally, the Chilean José Luis Contreras (53), who dedicated 30 years to education and is a professor at the University of the Andes, in Santiago, where he is also the Academic Director of the Bachelor's Programs, said that he came to the Doctorate after having done a long investigation of the offer of similar programs, both in Chile and in Latin America.

“First, I chose it because I found the union of three such different universities to address the challenge very interesting. Also, because it’s not Chilean (to look at the phenomena from another perspective), but it’s very close (a couple of hours away by plane).” The professor, who also holds a degree in Literature from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and a Master’s degree in Philosophical Foundations from the University of the Andes, said the experience was “wonderful,” especially considering that, due to the pandemic, the first face-to-face meeting was in February.

José Luis Contreras.

"Beyond the academics, without a doubt the best part was the 'human contact' with classmates and professors we had only seen on screen. Seeing each other, chatting casually, having lunch, working in teams, drinking coffee, sharing experiences... in short... forging friendships that continue to grow, was the best part of being in person," she concluded.

Finally, he said that he takes away from the Doctoral program "several aspects of the experience surrounding the development of the planned training path." "How we have become accustomed to accessing reliable and up-to-date sources; to 'questioning' authors; to integrating contributions from different disciplines and perspectives; to 'producing' academic texts in most of the subjects; to recognizing the main variables involved in university processes; to 'fine-tuning' our writing with the style and characteristics of academic articles or essays, and much more," Contreras explained.

And he concluded: "Ultimately, I believe we have been organizing and nourishing our minds in this process of transforming ourselves into voices with the aim of contributing to current and future university educational endeavors."

Lastly, Cecilia SantanaThe Ecuadorian representative emphasized that it's important to note that in her country, "the availability of doctoral programs is limited; until 2022, there were no doctoral programs in Education, and one was just approved this year." Regarding her choice of UAI, she stated, "Anyone wishing to pursue this academic degree must necessarily do so abroad."