In line with its central mission of contributing to the development and transformation of higher education by participating in the conceptualization, elaboration and formulation of programmes, objectives and UNESCO strategies regarding Higher Education, UNESCO-IESALC proposes the Map of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (MESALC) as a tool to confront the need in Latin America and the Caribbean to build academic networks on an institutional, national and regional scale to analyse strategic problems affecting Higher Education and to create appropriate measures for overcoming marked imbalances.

Due to the emergence of university rankings and the impact these rankings can have on public policies affecting education, the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO-IESALC) devised in 2007 a Map of Higher Education in Latin American and the Caribbean known as MESALC, an alternative regional project, that suits the needs and meets the standards of Latin American and Caribbean Higher Education Institutions (HEI).