The rector of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) has told Diario Libre that the university’s greatest challenge is to introduce more short technical courses. Students with low grades would be encouraged to take this option. The courses would include careers in health, such as dieticians, radiology technicians and nursing aides, as well as in construction and farming.
He said the aim is to end the situation where some students spend as long as eight years enrolled at the university without graduating.
This will enable medical students to graduate with at least a technical level. “We need to give them the option because if we expel them, we are throwing them to crime,” he commented. He said students with technical skills would find it easier to get jobs compared to some professionals.
He said that the pre-college studies are a big burden for the university because of the marked educational deficiencies in most of the students from public schools.
He commented that the university is graduating engineers that will never build a house. He concluded these students will be better off if they graduate as a skilled plumber, electrician or master builder, as these are skills that are in need.
http://www.diariolibre.com/destacada/2014/11/24/i896031_uasd-inmersa-proceso-transformacin-acadmica.html