Editorial

Upon the idea of University in itself lies a quest, an eminently human one, that surpasses the vision of being as an isolated individual in immediate environments, and privileges instead the encounter and the dialogue with others, no matter where they are or where they come from.

From their very first glimpse of the University environment, our students define themselves aware of the huge diversity of knowledges and perspectives to explain the world, and to communicate it. Such an experience enhances their reach as members of a community and potentiates it while they interact, achieving identity and recognizing themselves on each other.

Students’ and teachers’ mobility and dynamism were characteristic of medieval universities.

They gave them significant and unique presence within the cities, while they deeply transformed the world and its movements.

Following this tradition, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM, has propelled internationalization, for more than a century, as a fundamental axis for scientific, humanistic, academic, and cultural development.

In recent years we have also sought to grow and strengthen our global presence through strategic networks and partners. This has allowed to consolidate the management of academic entities, University dependencies and the 13 UNAM’s Offices Abroad.

This is the context in which UNAM Internacional appears, a magazine that is called to be a fresh communication tool, a space for the exposition of ideas, actions and good practices of University life, as well as a document in support of the ongoing construction of the historical memory of our Alma Mater in the world.

International relations that the University has sustained are an asset for us to preserve, spread and enhance. Thus, each new edition of this magazine will be a loudspeaker for the voices of those who participate in the University’s tasks, in any of them all, starting from the endless redefinitions, challenges and perspectives, present and future.

With this in mind, we will address subjects such as online teaching strategies, the impact of the pandemic on students — especially on their mobility — and shared experiences in academic and cultural encounters, that have been rearranged through timely adaptation of working methods as an answer to restrictions imposed by the health emergency, even reaching a greater scope.

In this first issue, the reader will have a general view of the meaning of borderless research, student mobility, transformation of education in virtual environments, digital infrastructure of University’s spaces, learning through international online collaboration, growth of audiences and reorganization and creation of different virtual activities.

From every side — academic, scientific, cultural, and institutional — this new media, completely dedicated to our readers, will project the National University concert of values and actions.

Because even when international and national reality has changed due to the pandemic, UNAM does not stop. Quite the opposite: its daily labor keeps going in every School, Faculty, Center, and Institute, and this is so thanks to the tenacity and commitment of every community member, as well as to the availability of Information and Communication Technologies.

We are certain that UNAM Internacional will answer to the University’s identity, satisfying the great diversity of interests in our community, both in and outside Mexico, feeding the critical, plural conscience that characterizes it.

Hoping that this will be the first of many issues, for the Nation and for its University.