Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on Friday highlighted public universities play a fundamental role in the future of the country.
Remarks were made while addressing a group of Lima-based San Marcos National University students traveling to the United States as part of Harvard University's affiliate LASPAU program.
"I would like to greet the Presidents of National Agrarian University, National University of Engineering and San Marcos National University. [They are] three fundamental universities for the future of Peru," he said.
"They give access [to education] to the ones who don't have resources. That's why I have always believed in public universities," he added.
The 78-year-old reminisced about his own college years, when he earned a scholarship to Oxford University, and later another one for PhD studies at Princeton University.
Emergency
On the other hand, the Inca nation's leader insisted on fostering optimism at a time when the country faces natural disasters as a result of global warming and climate change.
"We need to be ready for the next 50 years, and we need to start today," he warned.
"What to do? First, we must give Peruvians the opportunity to settle in suitable places," he expressed.
In this sense, Mr. Kuczynski underlined the need to work alongside municipalities in the control and prevention of land trafficking in ravines and high areas.
"But we have to give them [the homeless] a choice. We cannot just tell them to go away, we need to give them alternatives. For instance, we need to develop raw lands on the outskirts of cities," he said.
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