As soon as I arrive back in Lima it is time to prepare for a seminar I am giving at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, courtesy of my Ministry host who also lectures at the University.
I am honoured to be invited by the Faculty of Business Administration and its Research Institute. San Marcos is the oldest public university in Latin America, established in 1551 by a decree of Prince Charles of Spain and possibly one of the oldest universities in the world. The University has 20 faculties and 60 schools, 30,000 undergraduate students and some 6000 postgrads. Due to its prestigious faculties and alumni ~ it has Mario Vargas Llosa, the 2010 Nobel Laureate for Literature among its alumni ~ entering San Marcos is a competitive process.
As it turns out, am not just giving a seminar ~ I am the keynote speaker at an international seminar on small business and ICT for innovation and competitiveness from a gender perspective. Tailored perfectly to my research work, I have no worries preparing for this. There are several other speakers and the seminar, scheduled to start at 9:30 AM, gets underway around 10:30ish ~ the Peruvian way! The auditorium is huge and not exactly filled, which makes it all a bit hollow but the event goes well. After welcome words from the Dean, I speak ~ assisted by an interpreter ~ for about an hour, followed by three other speakers, who each speak for about 20 minutes. There are some questions and then there is lunch in the foyer. There seem to be a lot more people at lunch than were in the auditorium and the food is disappearing fast ...
A very different experience from the one at Khulna University in Bangladesh (see earlier blog) but both have been interesting in their own way.
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