The current crisis
Universities are going through a major crisis. Enrollment is slowing and in many cases declining, desertion is increasing, their very existence is being questioned. What happened?
This state of affairs is not surprising once you take a deep look into the subject. It is not an uniquely Colombian issue. There is an amazing write-up by Emerge, an EdTech fund, on the problems with traditional higher education and how one may solve them here.
- Expensive: In Colombia, the best Universities cost ~10K USD per year, not counting the cost-of-living. Colombia’s GDP per Capita is ~7000 USD.
- Lenghty: Your typical Bachelor’s Degree takes ~4 years. This, of course, makes the cost problem worse.
- Disconnected from student’s needs: Most students want to learn actionable skills so they can go and work. Universities focus on teaching theory, not practice. For example, recently I discovered that most Civil Engineering students only visit an actual construction site once or twice before graduating!
- Disconnected from the labor market’s needs: The labor market needs people with the hard skills necessary to do the job and the soft skills to interact successfully in their organizations. Universities don’t teach the actionable skills (focusing on theory), and leave personal development almost completely on the sidelines as something that will “happen naturally”. Hence, organizations are more and more reluctant to hire new graduates, opting for professionals with some years of experience.
- Lack of connections: The labor market demand side comes from companies, NGOs, government… all the employers in the economy. Universities provide very little connection between students and the people in these entities. Students are expected to go and make these connections once they are about to graduate, and those that fail are relegated to second-rate jobs and opportunities.
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