A major report from the Jose Luis Aleman Center for Economic and Social Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra analyzes the higher education system in the Dominican Republic and finds several shortcomings. First among these is the continued focus on immediacy and improvisation in the face of a continued decline in educational quality and competitiveness. The report says that there are enough resources to make the right decisions and open new educational pathways.
The study, called “Dominican Higher Education: tendencies and challenges,” was produced by Fernando Ferrán, the researcher and director of the Center. Ferrán looks at what he calls “reciprocal promotion between professors, researchers and students.” He argues that if the declining quality and competitiveness of our higher education system continues to be ignored, graduates will have been trained for a world that no longer exists.
Ferrán says that Dominican universities are becoming more and more like degree factories instead of graduating skilled professionals. Dominican university population increased from 108,000 in 1990 to 286,000 in 2017. Student access to higher education is well above the regional average of 50%.
The report concludes that there is a need for the planning and gradual implementation of an entirely new approach to teaching and learning to meet the demands of modern day technology and contemporary values.
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Diario Libre
PUCMM
3 June 2019