Latin American universities (LAUs) have been going through a serious lack of economic resources which has plunged them into a deep financial crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this calamity. However, LAUs have implemented online teaching processes in order to mitigate the effects of scheduling and other classroom disruption. There is evidence that these modes of teaching have had a reasonable reception but the level of student satisfaction is yet unknown. This article takes a systemic view of the predicament facing LAUs. It represents the elements related to the disruption caused by COVID-19 in a rich picture, building a systemic framework to explore student satisfaction with remote teaching. Using a sample of 298 students from Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, the study analyzes their situation through: (a) Well-being, educational resources, and learning experience and; (b) General satisfaction with virtual classes. Applying exploratory factor analysis, this study identifies three dimensions: (a) satisfaction with support and adaptation in the virtual modality; (b) satisfaction with the interaction in the virtual classroom; and (c) satisfaction with the development of the study program. Medium/high scores for the dimensions indicate moderate/high levels of satisfaction. The findings suggest that there are still unsatisfied needs regarding access to digital resources and socio-emotional needs. This article could be of interest to Higher Education Institutions (HEI) planners dedicated to post-pandemic, virtual education.

The paper aims to identify and analyze what types of governance challenges for sustainable regional development in the context of globalization are more frequently found in scholarship regarding Latin America. In order to do so, we carried out a systematic review of scholarly works discussing regional sustainability issues across the region. Analytically, it provides a heuristic multidimensional framework for organizing and typifying the most frequent sustainable regional development governance challenges under study, offering a nuanced and interrelated account of economic, environmental, political, and socio-spatial scientific discussions. According to our findings, scholarship on Latin America shows a bricolage-like scenery where political atomization linked to economic factionalism and fragmentation stand out as frequently analyzed situations. Another frequent topic relates to discussions about political endeavors linked to environmental concerns, connecting incidence strategies with collective environmental conservation approaches.

As other technological promises, bioeconomy has raised expectations as a burgeoning field for the economy. Policy work in Colombia claims that such current focus on ‘bio’ should be profited by the country given its regional mega-diverse potential. Yet, the question remains to what extent such arrangements are shared regionally, in a country exhibiting variegated multi-cultural drivers and differentiated bio-potential. This paper tackles this question, assessing national policy documents and regional oil and mining royalties investment in the period 2012–2019. Conceptually, we build on the notions of integration and convergence to read regional funding and niche development as evidence of multi-level expectations. We combine content analysis, descriptive analysis and social network analysis to assess expectations at the macro, meso and micro levels. Results show that there is not a consistent regional translation of the discourse on bioeconomy, showing dispersed views about how to render bioeconomy real. Higher education institutions and regional governments play a central role in keeping the network together; however, the lead has been taken by regional governments.

The purpose of this article was to show the progress in the implementation of an Eco-Village that incorporated elements of bioconstruction with the use of bamboo-guadua cane framed in a circular design and integrated planning approaches for the increasing resilience in an area of high seismic risk in the Colombian Andes Mountains. Likewise, it included energy transition elements advancing towards decarbonization with the use of solar panels for electricity generation and water heating. At the same time, it integrated clean production linked to regenerative agriculture and circular bioeconomy using closed water circuits from bioprospection purification processes in internal treatment plants, equally, waterless toilets that allow the use of human waste as an input for composting and urine mixed with water for nitrogen fixation in permaculture gardens. Likewise, Experimental Center El Remanso ECER has allowed the application of Interdisciplinary education related to Ecological Engineering Education. The project is framed in the concepts and theories of bioeconomy and degrowth (Georgescu-Roegen, Latouche). An exploratory qualitative methodology was considered based on the participatory action research PAR proposals of Fals Borda. In addition to, the meeting with the traditional knowledge of the indigenous people and the peasant communities of the area in the production and cooking of food and the recovery of soils and ecosystems, as well as, the implementation of associativity processes related to the design and execution of tourist routes. As result of the research, the importance of co-creation, respect for ancestral knowledgement and the dialogue of knowledges are recognized, among others. The used of the small sample size of the different information access instruments were recognized as a limitation in the research. However, future actions linked to the results of the implementation of the PAR are been planned.