Tertiary Education in Latin AmericaTertiary Education in Latin America

Norway-WB Seminar, Washington

May 14, 2004

Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen

Lholmnielsen@worldbank.org

Why should the Bank be Why should the Bank be involved in tertiary education?involved in tertiary education?

Key driver for social mobility

Competitiveness: Supports the transition to knowledge-based economies

Generates externalities that underpin the Bank’s work in other sectors

Associated with market failures

World Bank Education World Bank Education Portfolio in LACPortfolio in LAC

Strong focus on primary education

Sizeable commitments were made to tertiary education in FY98, FY99 and FY03

LCSHD Portfolio: FY98-03 Commitments

Source: World Bank 2004

Primary59%

Vocational2%

Secondary10%

S&T14%Tertiary

15%

Key developments that mark Key developments that mark tertiary education in Latin tertiary education in Latin

America….America….

Large increase in tertiary Large increase in tertiary enrollment in recent decadesenrollment in recent decades

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

OECDChil

e

Argen

tina

Urugua

yPeru

Colombia

Mex

ico

El Salv

ador

Brazil

Hondur

as

Ter

tiar

y gr

oss

enro

llm

ent r

ate

1965 1975 1985 1995 2000

Source: WDI 2003

Growth in private provision and Growth in private provision and non-university tertiary educationnon-university tertiary education

 

Percent of total enrollment

Year 75%-40% 40%-30% 30%-20% 20%-10% Less than 10%

1985 BrazilColombiaDom. Republic

ChileEl SalvadorPeru

ArgentinaGuatemalaParaguay

Costa RicaEcuadorHondurasMexicoNicaraguaVenezuela

BoliviaPanamaUruguayCuba

2002* BrazilColombiaChileDom. RepublicEl SalvadorNicaraguaParaguayPeru

Venezuela 

Costa RicaEcuadorArgentinaGuatemalaMexico  

Honduras BoliviaPanamaUruguayCuba

Source: Schwartzman (2002); World Bank (2002c and 2003); Zúñiga (2003); OECD (2002a) and García Gaudilla (1998)

What are the sector issues?What are the sector issues?

Inequitable participationInequitable 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

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Brazil Mexico Colombia Chile Argentina Spain

Q1/2 Q3 Q4 Q5Source: World Bank (2002); Del Bello (2002) and Delannoy (2000)

WB responses: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

Weak market for tertiary educationWeak 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

Investments in tertiary education, 1999

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

Chile

Colom

bia

Brazil

Argen

tina

Mex

ico

% o

f G

DP

Public subsidies Private sources TotalSource: OECD (2002) and World Bank (2002)

WB responses: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

IneficiencyIneficiency

High drop-out rates, repetition, low graduation and extended cycles

Few financial incentives to improve learning outcomes and efficiency

1,193,003

765,066

616,669

286,488

47,413

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,00019

82

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

1ó+ Materias Aprobadas en t-1

2ó+ Materias Aprobadasen t-1 (Regulares)

Egresados

Ingresantes declarados

Alumnos declarados

WB ResponsesWB 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

Learning gap

Lack of cohesionLack 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

Short cycle tertiary

education

Educational dead-end

Low qualitySecondary

University

WB responses: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)

Low quality and relevanceLow 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

Professors with PhDs

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

UKBraz

ilChil

e

Argen

tina

LAC avera

ge

Venez

uela

Mex

ico

Colombia

Source: Brunner (2002), World Bank (2002); UK Higher Education Statistics Agency Individualized Staff Record 2001/02; García Gaudilla (1998) and Schwartzman and Balbachevsky (1996)

WB responses: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

Weak national innovation systemsWeak 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

Degree of knowledge transfer between universities and industry

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Finlan

dIsr

ael

Chile

Colom

bia

Argen

tina

Brazil

Venez

uela

Mex

ico

Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2003

WB responses: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

Weak system and institutional Weak system and institutional managementmanagement

Weak university management structures

Insufficient capacity in ministries of education for sector oversight and strategy

Low access to relevant management information

Regionalgovernments

PrivateUniversities

PublicUniversities

RegionalTertiary institutions

Private Sector

International networks

ScienceAgency

TertiaryEducation

System

Ministry of Education,Science and Technology

WB responses: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

Operations in tertiary Operations in tertiary educationeducation

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)

Operations in S&T related Operations in S&T related to tertiary educationto 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)

New operations FY05-06New 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

Tak for invitationenTak for invitationen

Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen

Lholmnielsen@worldbank.org