Speech by Prof. Roberto Escalante Semerena, Secretary-General, Association of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean (UDUALC)
GSUA ’25 Summit Awards Gala Dinner, House of Lords, Westminster, London – July 18, 2025
Your Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, scholars, and friends,
I represent the Association of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean — an association now celebrating its 76th anniversary. It was founded in 1949 in Guatemala, following a call by the Rector of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala to the universities of Latin America. Many important universities joined that occasion — not only from Latin America, but also Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the University of Paris, who attended as observers at the inauguration of this organization.
Perhaps you have heard of Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer who passed away a few years ago. He spoke beautifully about utopia. He said something very interesting — that utopia is always ahead of us. When we reach the place where utopia was, it has already moved further ahead. Yet we keep walking, and utopia remains ahead. His reflection was that utopia is useful for walking. And I believe that is what we — university people, and people in general — should do: think of utopia, and keep walking forward.
In Bologna, in 1088, the first university was founded — or at least, that is when we officially mark the beginning of the university. Ever since then, the university has accompanied society — through good times and bad. The reason for this endurance is that in the university, we practice freedom: the freedom to think, to question, and to reflect critically on what is happening around us.
A university’s role is much like that of a conductor in an orchestra. The conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra was once asked, “What makes a good conductor?” He replied: “A good conductor is not the one who scolds the trumpets or the violins — it is the one who listens.” Likewise, at the university, we must listen to what is happening in society in order to truly fulfill our mission.
We, the university community, must be at the service of what society needs. And today, society needs universities more than ever. In the Global South, we carry the greatest responsibility, because the main natural resources on Earth are found in the South. Those in the North have already, by and large, exhausted or destroyed theirs. But the forests, the waters, the rivers — they are here in the South. For the sake of both the South and all civilization, we must think of utopia, keep walking forward, and work together.
Science has never advanced without cooperation. Competition is science’s greatest enemy, even though in the North we are often told that we must compete — that life is all about “me, me, me,” and not “we.” But none of us knows everything; each of us knows something. And if we combine what I know with what another knows, together we know more.
Thank you very much for this invitation and for this occasion. I invite you all to cooperate — to stand together. We need to be united now more than ever. Otherwise, utopia is in danger.
And we do not want utopia to die.
Good night, and thank you very much.