Forty students from 9 countries will take part in the 2026 edition of the Summer Course on Development Studies for Mexico and Central America, jointly organized by the Latin American School of Development Studies (ELADES) [2], the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), both of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Development Studies Program (PUED) [3] of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

The Course will take place from June 8 to 26, 2026, in person —at the facilities of UNAM's Institute for Economic Research— and forms part of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of ECLAC's subregional headquarters in Mexico.

A total of 215 applicants from Mexico and Central America applied to this edition of the Program. The 40 selected students [4] come from Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Their academic backgrounds span fields such as economics, political science, international relations, sociology, engineering, environmental sciences, business, law, psychology, journalism, anthropology, social work, philosophy, and geography.

The Program is structured into six modules: integral development; human development; social development; economic development; political development; and sustainable development. Classes are delivered by a group of 24 instructors, including UNAM faculty members, experts from ECLAC's staff in Mexico and Santiago, and distinguished guest professionals. The Course will also feature two discussion forums, one on productive development policies and another on anticipatory governance, with prominent guest specialists in each area.

It constitutes a pluralistic space for thought that fosters discussion, reflection, and the generation and exchange of ideas from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on the specialized contributions of different disciplines and recent advances across the various dimensions of integral development.

Through this initiative, ECLAC and UNAM seek to jointly contribute to the training of professionals with a comprehensive approach to the region's development challenges, with a particular focus on the specificities of Mexico and Central America.