Dr. Eduardo Silva Sánchez
Awarded 2013 LACCEI Academic Merit Medal on 2013
LACCEI has awarded the Medal of Merit Scholar LACCEI 2013 to Dr. Eduardo Silva Sánchez for outstanding achievement and impact to Engineering Education in the Americas.
Eduardo Silva is a lawyer, ex-secretary of the Presidency of Colombia and specialist in Administrative Law. He is currently a consultant and Licensed Tutor. He is a Civil engineer from Universidad Nacional de Colombia (1959–1964) and also has a degree in Mathematics and Physics from Universidad Nacional de Colombia (1968–1970). He earned his Master degree in Economics (Basic courses) Universidad de los Andes (1971), Bogotá.
Mr. Silva began his teaching career at the Faculty of Mathematics, National University of Colombia, as instructor of differential calculus in Engineering and geometry instructor in Architecture. In the Colombian School of Engineering he was made professor and head of the physics section. He has taught physics class at the school since its beginning, through which have passed more than 8,000 engineering students, many of whom are widely recognized professionals. He served as Secretary General for 15 years and was named president in December 1989, a post he held for 11 years. Following that he became Director of Basic Sciences of the institution, from 2003 to 2006. The highlights of this stage of his career are achievements in forming the school of undergraduate programs in electrical engineering, industrial engineering, of high impact among engineering schools, the school being a relatively young entity in the Colombian context. He also created different study centers, which today have become the focus of the programs of specialization and expertise in the current engineering school. In 1989 the school had 2,000 students and in 2000 this figure doubled.
Mr. Silva has participated in numerous national and international seminars, conferences on the teaching of engineering from 1971 to date and has been linked to the government sector and union as a member of the Board of Directors of the Colombian Society of Engineers, Quality advisor in the Urban Development Institute of Bogota. Professor Silva participated in the creation of the National Accreditation System in Colombia, which pioneered engineering design through the SAAPI system (1993). On the subject of external evaluation in Colombia, since 1996, he proposed the creation by the Colombian Institute for the Promotion of Higher Education. In the same vein he promoted and currently heads the Basic Sciences Review-EXIM-ACOFI initiative to assessment engineering students to 50% of their studies, in which, since 2007 more than 5,000 students have participated. As an initiative of the Colombian Association of Faculties of Engineering, he has directed and has been lecturer at the Teacher Training Seminar, teaching development program for teachers of the faculties, schools and engineering programs. Over 300 teachers from 30 higher education institutions have been involved through the modules developed in different cities of Colombia.
In 2010 he had his first international experience in Ecuador. In the Colombian Association of Faculties of Engineering ACOFI- he has been President and Legal Representative, and Executive Director. Since 2007, he is an active member of the research group-Educing- Engineering Education-recognized by the Department of Administrative Science, Technology and Innovation Colombia – Colciencias. In 2008, together with the Ministry of Education and the Association of Universities of Colombia ASCUN-, in which he was aligned to encourage the training of engineers in Colombia, which resulted in agreements to support dual degree.
Since 2011, he has participated as Advisory Board Member in the International Institute for Developing Engineering Academics-IIDEA-training institute which aims to disseminate the learning of engineering education worldwide.
