At a meeting of the General Assembly of Members of María Cano, the rector Hugo Alberto Valencia Porras was re-elected for his fourth consecutive term, starting on May 1 of the current year, taking into account the excellent results presented in the last term that contribute to the fulfillment of the Development Plan 2017 – 2026 «Building the Future».

In the report known by the members of the María Cano Assembly, the institutional compliance in the year 2021 of 93.4% was highlighted, which is based on the actions of the three axes of the Development Plan: in the line of Academic Quality, a execution of its goals of 93.5%, for the Relationship with the Environment line it was 92.9% for the year, and the Institutional Management line also presented excellent results, with a total goal achievement of 93%. All in general with considerable increases compared to the measurements of previous years; in addition to the changes in the dynamics of education in the world.

In his report presented to the Assembly, the rector Hugo Alberto Valencia Porras reported important achievements such as:

• The approval by the Ministry of National Education of compliance with the institutional conditions of the Medellín, Cali, Neiva and Popayán campuses, for a term of 7 years.
• The creation of new programs that strengthen the academic offer based on the needs of the environment.
• The external look by academic peers of the CNA, who carried out the evaluation of the Business Administration, Physiotherapy and Speech Therapy programs, of the Medellin campus, for High Quality Accreditation.
• Updating of the Internal Quality Assurance System – SIAC – a process that accompanied the Ministry of National Education and enabled the articulation of subsystems in strengthening self-assessment actions from different perspectives, the adoption of mechanisms for monitoring in the short term term and the projection of complementary actions in the future, which facilitate reaching the expected results in terms of materializing the Development Plan.
• The strengthening of the community of professors through the definition of the support policy for the training of masters and doctorates and the incentives for research production.
• The definition and implementation of the learning outcomes methodology in all the Institution’s academic programs.
• Obtaining the operating license for the language program (academic knowledge level B2) under the regulations of Education for Work and Human Development – ETDH, issued by the Secretary of Education of Cali.
• Approval of the institutional inclusion policy.
• The consolidation of the “I love you at the U” program for the comprehensive training and permanence of students.
• Consolidation of extension income by diversifying the sources of income for María Cano.
• Approval of the implementation and execution of the Infrastructure Master Plan for the Medellín campus, which will provide the university community with two new buildings of approximately 5,000 m2 designed as flexible, dynamic and co-creation spaces.
• Obtaining the construction license for the Infrastructure Master Plan of the Medellin headquarters that consolidates the generation of new physical spaces.
• Intervention of institutional regulations and updating of documentation on the website.
• Expansion of the scope of the Quality Management System – QMS – to all mission processes and headquarters.
• Investment in laboratories to strengthen student learning processes.

For her part, the president of the Assembly, Ligia González Betancur, on behalf of the other members, praised the work of the rector in consolidating a management and leadership team that contributes, directly to institutional positioning throughout the country, to compliance of the challenges outlined in the Development Plan, as well as the consolidation of a solid, committed, proud and continuously growing academic community. He also expressed recognition for the work that the rector has done since he assumed the legal representation of María Cano in 2016, while congratulating the vice-chancellors, the academic, administrative, social projection team and the entire university community. that contributes to institutional growth in Medellín, Cali, Neiva, Popayán and the Mariacanovirtual campus.

The rector Hugo Alberto Valencia Porras is a Professional Statistician from the University of Medellín, Master in Business Administration from EAFIT, Master in Marketing Management from the Viña del Mar University (Chile), Specialist in Marketing and Specialist in Economics and International Business. He has more than three decades of professional experience, more than 20 years dedicated to Higher Education; since May 2016 he has been the Rector of the María Cano University Foundation. He has also worked at the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia as Director of the Montería campus, National Director of Planning, National Director of Self-Assessment and National Director of Research and Development of Postgraduate Programs; He has been Head of the Internal Control Office, Head of the Planning Office, Administrative and Financial Director, Director of University Welfare, Dean of the Academic Extension Center and Head of the Commercial Department at ITM University Institution; as well as a professor at the Research Center of the Faculty of Nursing of the University of Antioquia.

He has been an Academic Par of the Ministry of National Education since 2005 and professor of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in different Higher Education Institutions since 1996. In the business sector he was a Statistician and Information Systems Analyst in the area of ​​Production and Exports of Expocaribe. SA Grupo UNIBAN and Administrative Director of Comercializadora Internacional Banacol S.A. Apartadó headquarters. He is currently the president of the Colombian Association of Higher Education Institutions – ACIET. He has been consecutively elected to the rectory in the years 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.

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