Question

____ 1. En los años recientes la economía de Puerto Rico ha estado enmarcada dentro de una estrategia encaminada hacia el desarrollo sustentable. (true or false)

In recent years, the economy of Puerto Rico has been framed within a strategy aimed at sustainable development.

Answer 1

Puerto Rico’s recovery after the catastrophic events caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017 requires a sustained and large-scale strategy that engages multiple sectors, the political establishment, and the residents of the Island. Given that Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, it also requires a bipartisan commitment from the United States Congress to rebuild its future. A clear strategic public re-investment plan that is grounded on a new vision for a stronger economic future for Puerto Rico is needed. Any long-term strategy must include a commitment of the local political and civic leadership to reinvent approaches to development and to forge a vision that builds on local capacity, is grounded on existing resources available within the Island’s higher education system, capitalizes on the natural resources of the Island, and invests in people and communities. Puerto Rico needs policy advisors and lobbyists to aggressively marshal the policies and resources for comprehensive recovery and transformative development of the island. Entrepreneurs in all sectors can leverage public and private funding needed for transformational initiatives.

The higher education sector represents an important resource and an absolute requirement to advance Puerto Rico towards a new paradigm for economic and social development. Higher education can position itself to contribute in a leading way to address these unprecedented challenges in the history of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico can capitalize on its entrepreneurial spirit, tax incentives, natural resources, and geography to make it an attractive launching pad for opportunity and innovation.

This approach includes placing Puerto Rico in a competitive condition within the global economy. This requires local leadership to integrate into its plan for recovery the concept of “globalization,” based on the integration of global and local political economic factors into a strategy for development and change (Swyngedouw, 1997).

There are untapped opportunities for investments in tourism, agriculture, emerging industries, pharma and federally regulated ventures. There are also new opportunities for carving a vision for development that focuses on people- and place-based strategies. These strategies can be grounded on reciprocal and well-aligned multisector partnerships, with higher education at the forefront as the engine for knowledge creation and knowledge transfeThe four elements highlighted in the figure below set the context for redefining the role of higher education in propelling a new economic model for Puerto Rico and provide the foundation for the recommendations provided below. The conceptual growth plan anchoring this report focuses on 5 strategic economic sectors—tourism, emerging industries, agriculture, pharma and entrepreneurship. The Higher Education sector depends on the viability for developing these strategic economic sectors and the feasibility for such development depends on how well the Higher Education sector connects with them.

The survival of Puerto Rico’s economy is intimately tied to the sustainability and strengthening of the higher education system. The University of Puerto Rico is regarded as one of the best universities in the Western Hemisphere with a ranking of 33 from the SCIMAGO Institute Ranking and is ranked 15 in Latin America and the Caribbean (SCIMAGO Institute, 2017). A number of the private institutions, such as the Inter-American University, also ranks well in the region. Colleges and universities have a determining stake on how Puerto Rico aligns its resources and which opportunities are chosen to create a new paradigm for development and to ignite economic revitalization as a core element in their missions. This vision is essential for economic revival and for attracting private investment.