Internationalization is a common objective of LA HEIs. Two of the most common strategies for the internationalization of postgraduate education are:1) International academic association for the development of joint programmes;2) International postgraduate mobility with academic recognition.Shortage of agreed indicators that allow the characterization and measurement in a comparable way of the principal variables involved in the mentioned two strategies has certainly contributed to hinder their implementation. Particularly important is the lack of a broad consensus on two essential components of postgraduate education that are worldwide recognized:a) Student centered learning (SCL), mainly in relation to three elements that are useful in the operationalization of said SCL: learning outcomes, competences and credits;b) Quality assurance.In this context, this project aims at creating, developing and sustaining a Latin American network of Ministries of Education and Universities, both public and private ones, in order to contribute to the internationalization of postgraduate education, by means of the consensus on standards related to substantial variables linked to student-centered learning (learning outcomes, competences and credits) and quality assurance. Consensus not only to be applied in the postgraduate programmes provided by the universities that take part in the project but to be also used as a common platform, which will be continuously updated, for all those countries and universities who wish to internationalize their postgraduate programs. Such space will be constantly open to the incorporation of Ministries of Education and Universities from other LA countries who wish to contribute to the accomplishment of the objectives of the network.The expected impact of the project is to favor the deployment of the two main strategies that have the HEIs for the internationalization of postgraduates: joint programmes and mobility with academic recognition.

A global discussion is taking place among Higher Education (HE) stakeholders to strive for HE that does better justice to the needs of the learner and of society. The relevance of study programs is probably the most pressing issue in HE today worldwide, including the countries in South America. In the public eye HE institutions should offer high quality programs that contribute significantly to the welfare of society by preparing graduates well for work and for civic and social engagement. To meet this need, a paradigm shift is required from traditional expert-oriented teaching to student-centred and active learning, based on competences and learning outcomes. Although there is full awareness that this shift is to be made, HE institutions and their academic staff in SA (and beyond) lack capacity, expertise and experience to make this happen. Building on work already done in Europe and in LA, ACE aims to develop effective mechanisms to give student-centred education a serious boost by acting as a catalyzer in 6 South-American countries, involving 13 key universities. ACE covers in each country 1-4 core academic fields, Nursing, Environmental Engineering, Education and History, representing as many HE sectors. At the heart of the project are 20 local working groups (WGs) consisting of 5 academics and of 5 student representatives each. The broad involvement of (local) staff and students is a unique feature. The WGs are all represented in transnational Subject Area Groups. Its members will be empowered to train their local WGs to reform their own programs. For this purpose, subject area qualifications frameworks will be made, based on (updated) meta-profiles developed in earlier LA projects. These will be complemented with in-depth training at 7 transnational meetings. As a result, ACE will result in 20 well informed learning communities that have reformed their programs and be equipped to assist other programs to make the reforms so urgently needed.