Universidad de Valle

The next day, August 31st, I arrived at the Universidad de Valle after a lovely four-hour walk through Guatemala City's heavily trafficked and poluted streets.

Another private university with no post-grad programs in math or science (only a masters in Pharmacology), I had two main meetings, one with the Dean of Science and Humanities, the other with the Director of the Physics Department.

The Dean was eager to speak of the positives of his school, stressing the Institute of Investigation and their commitment towards Biology and health-related research. Though from a different school, he also touted the resources of the engineering labs, which I was able to see first hand, and they are substantial.

The Physics Director, in contrast, painted a fairly bleak picture of the system the Physics Department operates under. She has a Masters in Particle Physics from Mexico, and was collaborating on some research through Fermi Lab, but had to give it up due to UdV's unwillingness to sponsor "impractical" research. She also said that a heavy bureaucracy exists through the ranks of the University that makes it nearly impossible to collaborate on anything with Universities in other countries. She says the four other professors in the Physics department with higher degrees are in similar positions, 100% of their work being either teaching or administrative, and everyone is frustrated.

Unlike at Galileo, UdV has an official physics major, but the students again just want to get out and have no incentive to come back. After the second year, all their books are in English, which better prepares them for study abroad. Zero research opportunities exist for these students since there is zero research being done by the faculy.

I took from this visit that there needs to be serious pressure and a change in mentality in order to get a private university like UdV, which has been around for several decades (unlike Galileo, founded in 2001), motivated enough to implement new programs and do substantial research. It's more the system than the lack of resources, both material and human.