Manizales, the city that wants to be Boston

The best residence in the country is Manizales, according to the citizen perception carried out by the Colombian Network of Cities How Are We Going. It surpassed the big cities like Medellín, Bogotá, Cali and Barranquilla and the rest of the capitals. The people of Manizales are the ones who feel most proud of their city and they have reasons to be so.

Security presents significant advances and the population of the capital of Caldas feels more and more secure. In terms of mobility, the journeys are short and fast within the city. In addition, Manizales is recognized for reducing unemployment from the figure of 16% four years ago to the current 8.7%.

Manizales is known for being a cultured and educated city, and it has even been called the university city of Colombia. However, only until now different sectors of the Manizalita society are joining efforts so that it becomes the educational city of the country and is the preferred destination to study for Colombian students and also foreigners. The capital of Caldas wants to be part of the list of university cities such as Boston (United States), Barcelona (Spain), Valparaíso (Chile), Salamanca (Spain), Linkoping (Sweden), among others.

Among the project participants is the Luker Foundation, which is in charge of unifying the proposals and developing actions to achieve the project. Pablo Jaramillo, manager of the foundation, assured Semana Educación that "the idea is that students, in addition to a high-quality university offer, have access to other types of services such as financing of tablets, computers and bicycles at special rates, discounts on food , transportation, stores, museums, entertainment, culture, among others”.

The set of services that would be generated around the students would have a significant impact on the city's economy. I would boost her.

Manizales welcomes about 14,000 students who come from parts of Colombia and other countries, who disburse some 140 billion pesos a year. In addition, the more than 30,000 students that it has generate generate nearly 3,500 classified jobs, which makes education the great engine of development. If the number of students increases there will be more income.

Among the goals are: to increase in absolute terms the number of university students, as well as their proportion in relation to the total population of the city -which is currently 9%- and to increase the number of programs and institutions of high quality.

The capital of Caldas has three accredited universities: Nacional, Caldas and Manizales. La Autónoma y la Católica is in the process of acquiring that recognition.

Another of the purposes to make the city "the Colombian Boston" is to integrate the university offer and services in issues of internationalization, well-being, social projection, cultural offer and research groups. Also achieve national recognition, improving the perception and image of Manizales as a destination city for higher education students in the country.

The goal is for Manizales to be recognized nationally and internationally. That is why it requires positioning its universities among the 10 best in Colombia; integrate at least three in international rankings, and be among the 30 best cities for students in Latin America.

“The conditions are favorable for us to achieve our goal: excellent weather, good geographic location, reasonable cost of living, manageable city size, good perception of security, and Manizales is also the city with the third most PhD (doctorates) per capita in the country. , has research centers of great national recognition, among other characteristics that make the city the ideal destination for students”, explained Jaramillo.

Source: Semana.com