Who we are
1. Partner organizations
The project will be conducted by the Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios (CEBEM) and University of British Columbia's (UBC) Centre for Intercultural Communication (CIC) following a systematic exploration that took place in 2005-2006. It builds upon the experience of both centres in designing and offering non-degree granting online courses to a varied clientele, with an emphasis on interactive learning.
CIC, established in 1982, is a part of the Continuing Studies Department at (UBC). CIC offers programs and services to develop intercultural awareness, understanding and skills for today's increasingly global academic and business environments. With over 20 years of experience, CIC has designed and delivered leading-edge programs and services to help people and companies work more effectively in diverse cultural settings, both domestically and internationally.
CIC's professional programs focus on how business people and international workers communicate effectively across cultures and adapt successfully to cultural changes in today's workplace. Student programs prepare UBC as well as visiting international students for cross-cultural exchanges and living and working abroad. The relocation programs offer pre-departure business briefings, country orientation sessions, re-entry and debriefing workshops and adapting to Canada seminars. The CIC staff has extensive international experience in the United States, Korea, China, Japan, India, Europe, Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East in business, research, and education. CIC instructors and facilitators bring intercultural expertise and experience from their own varied cultural backgrounds.
CIC offers two certificate programs, including the Certificate in International Development and the Certificate in Intercultural Studies which cover key areas and skills needed to work in the field of international development as well as to work with people from different cultures. Using UBC's online course platform, called WebCT, the courses in these certificates provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their experiences, practice skills gained during the courses, share their experiences with others and think critically about issues such as poverty, human rights, environmental sustainability, project planning and proposal writing as well as building multicultural teams, exchanging knowledge across cultures and bridging cultural differences.
The Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios (CEBEM) is a non-governmental organization created in 1989, devoted to interdisciplinary research and non-degree training in social sciences from a multidisciplinary, comparative, and international perspective, and to disseminate knowledge through publications, seminars and workshops. Its areas of activity include research, training, management of knowledge networks, and distance education. CEBEM conducts its activities in collaboration with a variety of institutions across Latin America and Canada.(1)
CEBEM has since 1994 offered graduate-level courses in collaboration with various European and Latin American universities, as well as short courses focused on topical issues such as local and municipal administration, organizational management, political science, information sciences, and environmental issues (including biodiversity protection). In 2002 CEBEM began developing an online educational platform to sustain introductory websites and interactive learning processes in order to offer online courses, with support from IDRC's Minga program initiative. This experience, combined with its analysis of learning needs in Bolivia and the region, led CEBEM to the conclusion that a niche resided in offering short-term non degree-granting courses online, in a format that recognized the experience of the learners and encouraged knowledge sharing in a congenial electronic environment.
CEBEM began in recent years to expand its institutional capital and reach by coordinating Latin American research networks on various areas of interest. It currently hosts and manages the Red de Investigación y Acción para el Desarrollo Local (RIADEL), and REDESMA, an online information service on environment and natural resources management, which consists in a Portal, including a website and regular newsletters sent to over 100,000 subscribers. Most recently CEBEM has been designated as the Executive Secretary for the Red Iberoamericana de Postgrados sobre Políticas y Estudios Territoriales (RIPPET), a network of graduate programs on local territorial development in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
CEBEM also produces and circulates newsletters on behalf of several Latin American networks that reach thousands of researches and professionals around the region.(2)
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