Tertiary Education in Latin America

1
Tertiary Education in Latin America

• Norway-WB Seminar, Washington
• May 14, 2004
• Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen
• Lholmnielsen_at_worldbank.org

2
Why 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

3
World 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
4
Key developments that mark tertiary education in
Latin America.
5
Large increase in tertiary enrollment in recent
decades
Source WDI 2003
6
Growth 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)
7
What are the sector issues?
8
Inequitable 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)
9
WB 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

10
Weak 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)
11
WB 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

12
Ineficiency

• High drop-out rates, repetition, low graduation
  and extended cycles
• Few financial incentives to improve learning
  outcomes and efficiency

13
WB 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

14
Lack 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
15
WB 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)

16
Low 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)
17
WB 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

18
Weak 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
19
WB 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

20
Weak 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

21
WB 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

22
Operations 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)

23
Operations 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)

24
New 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

25
Tak for invitationen

• Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen
• Lholmnielsen_at_worldbank.org