In Latin America (LATAM), socioeconomic inequality and lack of resources shape the context of educational institutions in particular ways. Programme quality and dropout rates preoccupy educationalists and governments.
A burning question for developing countries is whether low quality private higher education is better than none at all, in circumstances where public systems cannot meet soaring student demand. Brazil decided it was and set about rapidly expanding its higher education system, including by opening it to private institutions. Today the country has one of the largest private sectors in the world and it enrols a staggering 75% of all post-secondary students.
Recent years have witnessed a boom in private education opportunities across the Central American isthmus. To some, it seems that private entities cannot open classrooms fast enough. Whereas 30 years ago there were virtually no private universities, today there are more than 151 and every year more emerge.
Chile’s Ministry of Education has launched a web portal offering with unprecedented detail employment and earnings data to prospective applicants to higher education. The portal, called “Mi futuro” is a searchable database that lists hundreds of degree programs, professional and technical, from Medicine to Auto Mechanic, displaying for each program of every institution of higher education in the country the following information: drop-out rate, average time to degree, average earnings of the graduates after 4 years of graduation, current tuition fees for the program, and accreditation status of the program.
Peru has authorized two private universities to reorganize as corporations. The country's National Council for the Authorization and Operation of Universities decided last month that Peruvian Applied Sciences University and Saint Ignatius Loyola University could register as corporations while still maintaining their status as universities.
La universidad privada, contra una nueva ley de educación superior | "Los problemas no son jurídicos", dijo el presidente del Consejo de Rectores - lanacion.com