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Colombia is one of the major economies of the Latin American and Caribbean region and the government has set itself ambitious goals for its social and economic development, for which human capital development is crucial. Despite progress in the education sector, much remains to be done to address a number of challenges including: expanding enrolment and improving equity, increasing quality and relevance, and making governance and finance more responsive. Among other actions, the government needs to continue increasing participation in post secondary education through improved loan and scholarship systems and increasing student places more evenly throughout the country.
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In Colombia, the beginning of a new century has brought with it a palpable feeling of optimism. Colombians and visitors sense that the country’s considerable potential can be realised, and prosperity can become the norm. Good government and effective institutions will lead the way forward, moving the country past the old and seemingly intractable obstacles and conflicts that muted progress for too long. The feeling is that a new sense of security, new potential to expand trade, better infrastructure and institutions, along with other investments, can bring new opportunities, and Colombians are ready to respond energetically.
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This chapter opens with a brief description of the Colombian context, the country’s education system, how Colombia fares in international comparisons and key aspects of its tertiary education system, including institutions, students enrolled, the returns from education, access and admission, quality and relevance, financing, academic staff, research and the government’s future plans for the tertiary sector.
The chapter records Colombia’s significant achievements, which include recent growth in participation, diverse institutions, sound national planning, public agreement on the importance of equitable access and excellent student support and educational evaluation agencies. Many challenges are also recorded: these include limited resources to fulfil plans, students underprepared for tertiary education, as-yet-unequal access, high dropout, quality issues, limited research and internationalisation and a lack of institutional accountability.
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This chapter examines Colombia’s vision for tertiary education, and how well the Colombian tertiary system is organised in terms of its overall structure, governance and management systems.
The chapter begins with a discussion of the reforms the government proposed to Law 30 in 2011, the debate that followed, and what that debate revealed about public attitudes towards tertiary education. It closes with a summary of recommendations, including the need to (i) review and simplify the current hierarchy of tertiary degrees and qualifications, and create clear and transparent pathways to higher-level programmes and qualifications; (ii) review the supply of and demand for tertiary education graduates at all levels; (iii) integrate SENA more fully into the tertiary education system; (iv) agree an accountability framework; and (v) build national goals into institutional decision-making processes.
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This chapter examines student access to and retention in tertiary education, the extent to which different groups of students have benefited from recent enrolment growth, and how opportunities might be made more equal in the future.
The chapter closes with a summary of findings, and recommendations intended to (i) improve the college-readiness of Colombian school-leavers; (ii) ensure that admissions processes operate fairly; (iii) rationalise tertiary institutions’ different funding sources; (iv) enable ICETEX to support more students and improve targeting of students from the poorest backgrounds; and (v) continue offering options to ease loan repayment burdens on young graduates.
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This chapter examines the quality and relevance of tertiary education provision and offers an analysis of labour market demand for graduates in Colombia.
The chapter closes with a summary of main findings and recommendations, including the need to (i) improve the quality of many programmes at technical and technological institutions and CERES; (ii) continue to upgrade the qualifications of academic staff and to promote a strong academic culture in all institutions; (iii focus on programmes that develop the competencies required by employers; and (iv) prioritise the implementation of a nationally-recognised framework of qualifications.
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This chapter examines the current status of quality assurance in Colombia’s tertiary educational system. It does so by looking at the institutions involved, the processes in the certification of programmes and institutions, the history of the quality assurance legislation, and the mechanisms and instruments used for the evaluation of outcomes.
The chapter closes with a summary of main findings and recommendations, including suggestions addressing the need to (i) increase the resources devoted to quality assurance, (ii) achieve independence of organisations involved in quality assurance, and a strengthened role for ICFES (iii) introduce stricter controls for Registration of Qualified Programmes, and (iv) continue the improvement of instruments designed to evaluate outcomes and value added, as in the SABER 11 and new SABER PRO exams.
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This chapter documents the growing importance of internationalisation for governments and tertiary institutions around the world, and analyses the international dimension of tertiary education in Colombia.
The chapter closes with the review team’s recommendations, including (i) introduction of a comprehensive approach to internationalisation in Colombia;(ii) including the international dimension of tertiary education in national policy discussions; (iii) encouraging institutions to introduce international elements into curricula; (iv) encouraging more students to acquire competency in a second language; and (iv) efforts to increase levels of student and academic mobility, improve internationalisation information on SNIES and co-ordinate support for scholarship programmes for graduate studies abroad.
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This chapter considers the range and development of research and innovation in Colombia.
The chapter closes with the review team’s recommendations, including (i) significantly increasing scientific and technological investment; (ii) linking up and encouraging collaboration between researchers in betterestablished and smaller research centres; (iii) COLCIENCIAS to stimulate and support centres of excellence and networking and co-operative projects; (iv) natural sciences, social sciences and humanities all deserve research support.
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This chapter provides an overview of the information available on Colombia’s tertiary education sector, analysing its reliability, completeness, relevance, usefulness and ease of access. The transparency of processes and decisions in the tertiary education system are also discussed.
The chapter closes with the review team’s recommendations, including the need to (i) make information systems more user-friendly for the general public; (ii) systematically check data with alternative sources of information; (iii) commission an external review of admissions processes and criteria at public and private universities and university institutions; (iv) ensure that all TEIs that receive any public funds, directly or indirectly, make detailed financial information public in a standardised, systematic manner.
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This chapter examines the availability of financial resources in support of Colombia’s tertiary education development, looking in particular at resource mobilisation, utilisation and allocation.
The chapter closes with a summary of main findings and recommendations, including suggestions addressing the need to (i) increase public funding in tertiary education, (ii) reach a more equal distribution of public subsidies among public tertiary education institutions, and (iii) introduce performance-based mechanisms to allocate public resources to tertiary education institutions.
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As has been acknowledged throughout this report, the Colombian tertiary education system has many impressive strengths. Participation has been growing, widening and becoming better distributed across the country. The tertiary system covers the full range of the Colombian economy’s needs for skilled manpower, if not necessarily to an equal extent. The government has clear and well-founded plans and aspirations for future tertiary growth and development. The Colombian government and people are well aware that they need not only more, but also better and fairer, tertiary provision – growth in coverage must be accompanied by quality, relevance and equitable access.