Editorial

In times of the Porfirian dictatorship and as an echo of events that shook Western society at the end of the 19th century, the State handed over to Science —to its positivist avatar— the responsibility of designing the route to progress. Along the way, the “scientists” who surrounded the dictator forgot the people and disdained the spiritual —multicultural— components of the Mexican being. Direct and indirect disciples of August Comte, they had reacted against the idealist perspectives of the previous century, although they were also expressions of how the systematic knowledge of reality could modify it, perfect it, and make it grow. In the dialectics of ideas, even before its downfall, the dictatorship caused the arising of another perspective regarding the responsibility of the sciences towards society: the “Ateneo de la Juventud” confronted the positivists from a new idealism, which would be embodied in the coat of arms and the motto of the National University: Latin America united —internationalist vocation of knowledge from Mexico—, supported by its two majestic, emblematic birds of prey, to the voice of “Por mi raza hablará el espíritu”. There is no representation like this regarding the impact that university and the knowledge produced in it have on society.

This is the field of thought to which this second issue of UNAM International is dedicated: the indispensable contributions that the university, as a vehicle for science, higher education, cultural production and dissemination, makes to society. In the pages of this second installment of the international magazine of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), the reader will find outstanding examples of the processes through which the university forms technical, professional, and intellectual cadres who are destined to impact society —both in Mexico and in the world—, in the economy, in politics, in any field, through the implementation of the knowledge generated in it.

Thus, in a productive dialogue with peers around the world, UNAM is committed to academic exchange mobility of its students and academics to other parts of the globe, and by receiving in our territory and our language —whose speakers we insist on multiplying— people from everywhere. The international academic exchange thus generated points towards the development of global skills in an increasingly interconnected planet.

The “Encuadre” section includes articles that address these relationships. In “The Science-Society Paradigm”, Raúl Orduña describes how the “hard” sciences dialogue with the social world to achieve not only greater efficiency, but also justice in their applications, while Adalberto Noyola makes the empirical evidence of the processes of academic collaboration between Mexico and China —one of the countries that has made the greatest progress in scientific development in recent years— available to the reader. Araida Hidalgo reflects on the changes that higher education institutions are experiencing throughout the world, in an arduous process of adapting to new challenges, and Marcos David Silva addresses the extremes of the exercise of justice in Mexico from the edges of legal thought.

In an effort to extend the reflection on justice and current social and political conflicts, two contributions courageously assume the responsibility of expressing themselves in the face of the serious situation that Eastern Europe has been experiencing since the beginning of 2022. Thus, Eduardo Rosales addresses this new incarnation of war by providing information that allows us to get a more complete picture so we can read the information critically and analytically, from a position that is as neutral and objective as possible, while Ana Burgos in an interview from the Russian Caucasus itself, so close to the conflict, conveys a perspective situated in the context and allows us to better understand what the people of the region feel, suffer, live and think about it. It will be Alberto Vital, speaking from the field of linguistics, who will propose the dialogue between cultures —translation and language teaching, especially Spanish— and, referring to the fact that Russian is the language of some of the greatest literary creations of modern times, Vital draws attention to the value of language for peace: that is the mission of university community.

The approach to the world of languages does not end here: José Antonio Flores delivers an important chronicle on various projects developed in Mexico to enhance the presence of native languages, taking them to the frontiers of musical and poetic genres that are usually thought unrelated to them. And from the The Foreign Students Learning Center and Extension Schools abroad, several articles address the work being done at UNAM to teach the Spanish we speak in Mexico and the culture we inhabit.

It is not surprising that multi, inter and transdisciplinary perspectives appear prominently in the view of what the university contributes to society: the rich conversation between biology and mathematics; the disciplines that come together in what we know today as “territorial development”, and other significant examples.

The reader will find in this second issue, as also happened in the first, the voices of students and researchers with mobility experiences that contribute to reflection. Among them Laura Jimena Suárez adds to the contribution that academic exchange makes to society, the one that it operates in individuals; Omar de la Cruz analyzes the effects of the opportunity to do a doctorate abroad, and Heidi Aldaco recounts her experience of studying in Spain, in round-trip movements between two cities. And to abound on the exchanges, two interviews are included that bring us closer to high-level Mexican scientists collaborating with peers in the United States and Germany: Arturo Sauza introduces us to the enigmatic world of quantum computing, and Adrián González Casanova together with Maite Wilke Berenger, mathematicians who apply their knowledge to the understanding of biological processes, emphasize the benefits of international learning in online collaboration, the COIL strategy that aims to promote virtual internationalization processes.

This second installment of UNAM International also offers cultural outreach materials with reviews of events, publications and activities developed by UNAM both in Mexico and abroad. These pages include a surprising prose poem by César Cañedo and a graphic dossier with samples of the valuable sculptural heritage that UNAM guards.

Thus, UNAM International launches its second issue with the certainty that readers —especially the national and international university community— will see reflected in these pages the immense contribution that academy, research, teaching, science, culture, all wrapped under the mantle of the university, make to society.