Title: Tertiary Education in Latin America
1Tertiary Education in Latin America
- Norway-WB Seminar, Washington
- May 14, 2004
- Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen
- Lholmnielsen_at_worldbank.org
2Why should the Bank be involved in tertiary
education?
- Key driver for social mobility
- Competitiveness Supports the transition to
knowledge-based economies - Generates externalities that underpin the Banks
work in other sectors - Associated with market failures
3World Bank Education Portfolio in LAC
LCSHD Portfolio FY98-03 Commitments
- Strong focus on primary education
- Sizeable commitments were made to tertiary
education in FY98, FY99 and FY03
Source World Bank 2004
4Key developments that mark tertiary education in
Latin America.
5Large increase in tertiary enrollment in recent
decades
Source WDI 2003
6Growth in private provision and non-university
tertiary education
Percent of total enrollment
Year
75-40
40-30
30-20
20-10
Less than 10
1985
Brazil Colombia Dom. Republic
Chile El Salvador Peru
Argentina Guatemala Paraguay
Costa Rica Ecuador Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Venez
uela
Bolivia Panama Uruguay Cuba
2002
Brazil Colombia Chile Dom. Republic El
Salvador Nicaragua Paraguay Peru
Venezuela
Costa Rica Ecuador Argentina Guatemala Mexico
Honduras
Bolivia Panama Uruguay Cuba
Source Schwartzman (2002) World Bank (2002c and
2003) Zúñiga (2003) OECD (2002a) and García
Gaudilla (1998)
7What are the sector issues?
8Inequitable participation
- TE largely elitist with the majority of
students coming from the wealthiest segments of
society - Very inadequate student aid for poor students
- Not enough TE in regions
Source World Bank (2002) Del Bello (2002) and
Delannoy (2000)
9WB responses
- Making student loans available to academically
bright, but financially needy students while
promoting performance in cost-recovery and
administrative efficiency - Using income-contingent loan schemes to help
low-income families to overcome the lack of
collateral and fear of defaulting on traditional
mortgage-style student loan debt - Supporting tertiary education in regions with
links to local needs and as stepping stone
towards advanced education
10Weak market for tertiary education
- High reliance on public subsidies and de facto
state support of the affluent - The market for higher education is not
sufficiently transparent
Source OECD (2002) and World Bank (2002)
11WB responses
- Boost investments through additional private
contributions (tuition coupled with sustainable
student financial aid programs) while advising
clients to use public resources strategically - Create a transparent market for tertiary
education, e.g. by supporting accreditation and
the collection of data on labor market outcomes
12Ineficiency
- High drop-out rates, repetition, low graduation
and extended cycles - Few financial incentives to improve learning
outcomes and efficiency
13WB Responses
- Link public resource allocation with objective
performance and outcome criteria throgh
performance contacts and competitive funding - Consolidate monitoring and evaluation systems and
ensure reliable statistical data
14Lack of cohesion
- Secondary and tertiary institutions are not
working together to bridge gaps in tertiary
opportunities - Weak linkages between universities and
non-university tertiary institutions - No systems for the transfer of academic credits
Skill level
University
Educational dead-end
Short cycle tertiary education
Learning gap
Low quality Secondary
15WB responses
- Motivate and enable poor and socially excluded
students to complete secondary education and
achieve academic excellence - Strengthen linkages between university and
non-university sub-systems by bridging between
short and long cycle programs - Support mechanisms for the transfer of academic
credits, e.g. by promoting module-based curricula
design (Bologna like process)
16Low quality and relevance
- Insufficient qualifications of university
professors - Deteriorating physical facilities, lack of
equipment, obsolete instruction material and
outdated curricula - University graduates does not meet the skills
needs in the economy
Source Brunner (2002), World Bank (2002) UK
Higher Education Statistics Agency Individualized
Staff Record 2001/02 García Gaudilla (1998) and
Schwartzman and Balbachevsky (1996)
17WB responses
- Promote the use of quality assurance mechanisms
with external peer-review - Strengthen graduate programs and in-service
training of university teachers, and establish
financial and promotional incentives for teachers
to perform - Upgrade teaching facilities, learning materials
and research equipment - Develop competency-based curricula emphasizing
learning to learn methodologies
18Weak national innovation systems
- Low production and mobility of PhDs and post-docs
- Inward orientation of university researchers
- Lack of incentives to commercialize research and
solve real-life problems - Red tape impeding partnerships and cross-sectoral
mobility
Source IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2003
19WB responses
- Improve graduate education in areas of high
importance to national economies, and establish
programs for the insertion of young researchers
into industry - Strengthen linkages between universities and
industry by promoting matching grant schemes and
cooperative research, and provide incentives for
universities to commercialize innovations - Promote the participation in international
knowledge and research networks
20Weak system and institutional management
- Weak university management structures
- Insufficient capacity in ministries of education
for sector oversight and strategy - Low access to relevant management information
21WB responses
- Strengthen tertiary institutional management,
e.g. by introducing professional management, and
broaden governance structures to include
representatives of industry and civil society - Provide technical assistance to ministries of
education to build adequate policy frameworks for
tertiary education, strengthen long-term planning
and support the adoption of a sector-wide
approach to education - Build transparent management information systems
in order to provide a solid basis for
decision-making
22Operations in tertiary education
- Argentina Higher Education Reform Project
(P034091) - Chile Higher Education Improvement Project
(P055481) - Colombia Improved Access to Higher Education
(P074138) - Mexico Higher Education Financing Project
(P049895)
23Operations in ST related to tertiary education
- Brazil Science and Technology Reform Support
(P038947) - Chile Science for the Knowledge Economy
(P077282) - Mexico Knowledge and Innovation Project
(P044531) - Venezuela Millennium Science Initiative (P066749)
24New operations FY05-06
- Mexico Tertiary Education Student Assistance
Project - Chile Higher Education Finance and Curricula
Reform APL - Mexico Science, Technology and Innovation
Project - Argentina Higher Education Reform Project
25Tak for invitationen
- Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen
- Lholmnielsen_at_worldbank.org