Internet Governance is a cross cutting theme and there is no teaching program in the Latin American region that covers all aspects of Internet Governance from an integral perspective.It is much more than the administration of Domain Names and IP addresses, as it was defined by the Working Group on Internet Governance in 2005, a broader definition of Internet Governance is :

"Internet Governance is the development and application of principles, norms, rules, procedures and programs that shape the evolution and usage of the Internet"

Its study involves different disciplines related with the Internet like :

Critical Internet Resources Security Access and Openness Economy Local and international regulations Local and international legal framework Gender

There are several spaces for debate on Internet Governance like :

World Summit of Information Society (2003 - 2005) Working Group on Internet Governance (2004/5) Internet Governance Forum (Athens 2006 - Rio 2007 - Delhi 2008 - Egypt 2009 - ? 2010) ICANN : GAC - ccNSO - GNSO - ALAC - SSAC Gyganet Symposium (Athens - Rio de Janeiro) Regional LAC meetings (eLAC 2007 - 2010)

In some of these activities and international fora, the Latin American and Caribbean region had a very low participation. In the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum held in Athens, Greece (2006) only 5 % of the participants were from this region. During the second meeting of the IGF held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 35 % of the participants were from the region but 29 % were from the host country, Brazil, leaving only a 6 % for the rest of the countries.

The main objective of the South School of Internet Governance is to train new leaders of opinion of the Latin American region in all aspects related with Internet Governance, from a global perspective and with focus on the region. The program offers a unique multidisciplinary high level academic programme both for graduate students and young academics as well as for junior professionals from private sector, government and civil society. The programme is a well balanced mixture of theoretical lectures with world and regional leading academics as well as practical presentations from well known experts working directly in the technical community, the market or in policy.

Call for applications for South School on Internet Governance is open until January 15th. More information and online form to apply can be found in www.south-ssig.com.ar.