A recent diagnostic study carried out by international education consultant Andres Bernasconi shows that only 22 of every 100 university-age youths are attending college. Furthermore, the study reveals that 30% of the students who enter universities will abandon their studies within the first two years. The graduation rate averages at 20% of enrolled students. Radhames Mejia, the vice-rector of the PUCMM university, the largest private university, told Diario Libre that the statistics prove that a large number of students are not being enticed to further their educations due to course curriculums that do not meet their needs or their economic reality.
Furthermore, a workshop on superior education held at the Fundacion Global, Democracia y Desarrollo included the participation of Superior Education Minister Ligia Amada Melo, who voiced the need for more two-year programs. Melo said the labor market needs people with technical skills, especially in the fields of engineering, electricity, electronics and paramedics. She believes that community colleges offering two-year programs will fill this void and could attract those students who today only have the option of night study, and a course load that is practically the same at all local universities.
The minister says that student desertion is the main problem today and one that needs to be urgently addressed. She said the objective is to have the newly proposed community colleges prepare students for the work force in two years’ time.