Hispanic America

Regional overview

Hispanic America is very clearly defined as the supraregion comprising the American countries inhabited by Spanish-speaking populations. For related concepts see Category:Central America, Category:South America and Category:Spanish-speaking countries.

Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_America lists these countries as:

1. Argentina
2. Bolivia
3. Chile
4. Colombia
5. Costa Rica
6. Cuba
7. Dominican Republic
8. Ecuador
9. El Salvador
10. Guatemala
11. Honduras
12. Mexico
13. Nicaragua
14. Panama
15. Paraguay
16. Peru
17. Puerto Rico
18. Uruguay
19. Venezuela

It is a debatable point whether in cultural/political terms, Puerto Rico should be included - since it is effectively a colony of the US.

Most mainland countries of Central America and South America thus belong to Hispanic America, with the major exception of Brazil and the minor exceptions of some former colonies of Netherlands, France and UK.

Country reports from Hispanic America

This supra-region report is currently (August 2011) based on 10 country reports:

Four of these are detailed reports:

• Colombia
• Mexico
• Paraguay
• Uruguay

Six are briefer reports:

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Chile
• Panama
• Peru
• Venezuela

Re.ViCa also has brief country reports, which have not yet been updated, for:

• Costa Rica
• Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Puerto Rico

Education in Hispanic America

All the countries in the region profess to see education as a priority in achieving social and economic progress. Many countries have ambitious aspirational mission and vision statements on their Ministry websites - e.g. Paraguay, where the vision specifically includes references to promoting both ICT and social media for educational purposes.

The table below compares a range of education indicators across Hispanic American countries - the data is drawn from UNESCO Institute for Statistics:

Country	Average years of schooling of adults	Duration of compulsory education (years)	Years of primary education	Years of secondary education	Primary completion rate %	Enrolment ratio > Secondary level  %	Tertiary enrolment %	Education spending (% of GDP)	Education spending (% of total government expenditure)
Argentina	8.8	9	6	6	99	79.1	48.8	4.0	13.8
Bolivia	5.6	8	6	6	101	68.1	35.7	6.3	19.7
Chile	7.5	9	6	6	95	74.5	35.7	4.2	18.7
Colombia	5.3	8	5	6	97	56.5	23.3	5.2	15.6
Costa Rica	6	10	6	5	92	49.2	16.0	5.1	22.4
Ecuador	6.4	10	6	6	101	48	-	1.0	8.0
El Salvador	5.2	9	6	6	87	39.3	17.5	2.9	20.0
Guatemala	3.5	11	6	5	74	26.2	8.5	-	13.0
Honduras	4.8	6	6	5	79	-	14.7	-	-
Mexico	7.2	10	6	6	-	59.7	20.7	5.3	-
Nicaragua	4.6	6	6	5	76	35.5	11.5	3.1	15.0
Panama	8.6	6	6	6	97	62.2	34.9	4.5	9.0
Paraguay	6.2	9	6	6	89	46.7	10.1	4.4	11.4
Peru	7.6	11	6	5	99	61.5	28.8	3.0	17.1
Uruguay	7.6	10	6	6	91	69.9	36.1	2.6	7.9
Venezuela	6.6	7	6	5	92	50.4	28.5	-	17.0
Means	6.3	8.7	6	5.7	91.2	55.1	24.7	4.0	14.9
Range	3.5-8.8	6-11	6	5-6	74-101	26.2-79.1	8.5-48.8	1.0-6.3	8.0-22.4

In the table notably high and low scores are shown in bold type and the mean scores and ranges in bold italic.

• Average years of schooling for adults: a useful measure of the country's starting point for current and future education development. Note the high scores for Panama and Argentina and the very low scores for three Central American countries - Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.
• Duration of compulsory education: whilst most countries currently make this 8 - 11 years, note the high scores for Guatemala (starting from a very low adult base) and Peru and the low scores for three Central American countries (Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) and the below average score for Venezuela.
• Years of primary education: universally six years, except in Colombia.
• Years of secondary education: again, six years in the majority of countries, but in none of them are more than the first three years compulsory.
• Primary completion rate: still below 80% in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, but around 90% or above in all other countries.
• Enrolment rate for secondary education: there are wide variations here, with notably low transition rates (below 40%) in three Central American countries: Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador contrasting with transition by more than two thirds of young people in Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia.
• Tertiary enrolments: again, there are wide variations, with scores of 10% or below in Guatemala and Paraguay, contrasting with almost half the population involved in tertiary study in Argentina. However, tertiary enrolments cover all education, vocational and professional training beyond the school system; whilst many will be studying at degree level, many others will be undertaking vocational training at intermediate or technician levels.
• Education spending: there are quite wide variations in education spending, both as a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of total government expenditure. Several countries have extensive provision of private schools, colleges and universities and it is not entirely clear from the statistical data how this is accounted for. Note, however, the low scores in both columns for Ecuador, which is not one of the more economically advanced countries and Uruguay, which is one of the most prosperous. By way of contrast, El Salvador only spends 2.9% of GDP on education, but this amounts to 20% of total govenment expenditure. Bolivia has notably high scores on both measures.

None of the countries specifically prohibit home schooling and virtual schools and colleges, but if virtual organisations are to be effective, they require Ministry approval of accredited courses.

Schools in Hispanic America

All countries in Hispanic America feature both state and private schools, though private education is not strongly advertised in Venezuela, presumably for political reasons. Most private schools are Catholic foundations, reflecting the dominant religion across the region, but in some countries where there are significant immigrant populations from northern European countries and north America there a number of schools are sponsored by other Christian denominations - e.g. Lutheran and Evangelical schools in Uruguay and Paraguay.

• Kindergarten and pre-primary education is available in many countries, much of it provided by private organisations. The inicial year in Uruguay is the only country where any of this is part of compulsory schooling.
• Primary schools are not divided into separate infant and junior schools in any of the Hispanic American countries. There are often considerable differences between the facilities in rural and urban schools and a greater concentration of private schools in urban areas - e.g. in Uruguay, where there is also a significant number of private schools (both primary and secondary) for children with special educational needs.
• Secondary schools vary widely across the region, both in titles and organisation. As noted in the table of statistics in the section above, the end of compulsory schooling occurs from the end of the first year of secondary (Nicaragua and Panama) to the end of the third or fourth year of secondary in most countries (Only in Peru does compulsory education span the full secondary phase). In most countries there is a school leaving certificate at the end of the compulsory phase (see Qualifications and Accreditation) but the same secondary establishment provides continued optional schooling.

Uruguay is an exception: there are a number of lower secondary schools (Establecimientos de Educación Media Básica), with 237 of these (almost 35%) in Montevideo. Outside Montevideo there are also 61 Escuelas con Ciclo Básico Rural which offer a basic general education in rural areas. Vocational education also commences in separate schools at the start of the secondary phase, with three types of vocational establishments: 21 Centros de Ciclo Básico Tecnológico; 90 Escuelas de C.B.T. y Técnicas and 23 Escuelas Agrarias. None of these are private establishments.

Upper secondary schools in Uruguay (Establecimientos de Educación Media Superior) are largely housed i the same buildings as the Establecimientos de Educación Media Básica, but some are separate.

Secondary schools in Paraguay illustrate the wide variety of titles and organisations in secondary eduction across the region: they may be Colegios [or Colleges, in the case of the small number of foreign schools, notably US]; Escuelas Nacionales; Academies; High Schools; Centros de Educación Superior [these are secondary schools, in spite of appearing to provide tertiary education]; or Centros Educativos.

Further and Higher education in Hispanic America

All the countries in Hispanic America have universities, both private and public. Some of these have close links with other countries within the region - e.g. Universidad Iberoamericano, Mexico. Many also have strong links with USA and/or Spanish and Italian universities, reflecting two of the major cultural influences on the region - an example of this is the University of Bologna campus in Argentina. Several of them operate in more than one country - e.g. Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas", which was founded in El Salvador, also operates in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

Universities in Hispanic America

Wikipedia lists a total of 477 separate universities in countries covered by this report.

• Argentina - 95;
• Bolivia - 11;
• Chile - 34;
• Colombia - 31;
• Costa Rica - 11;
• Ecuador - 16;
• El Salvador - 12;
• Honduras - 5;
• Mexico - 213;
• Nicaragua - 2, plus a further 44 HEIs operating in some parts of the country;
• Panama - 32, but this list is sourced from Catalogue of World Universities and includes a considerable number based in other countries. The Ministry of Education accredits 5, and there is a sixth which does not have its courses accredited by the Ministry.
• Paraguay - 6;
• Peru - 21;
• Uruguay - 5;
• Venezuela - 9.

Polytechnics in Hispanic America

Wikipedia does not show detailed lists of clearly defined Polytechnics in the region. The American website Braintrack lists a number of Polytechnics: some of these are technological universities and some are specialised institutes within accredited universities. Removing these from the list, to avoid double counting, shows the following 18 institutions:

• Argentina - 2

1. Instituto Politécnico Superior -- Instituto Politécnico Superior "General San Martín" - Rosario
2. Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires -- Buenos Aires Institute of Technology - Buenos Aires

• Bolivia - none listed

• Chile - 1

1. Academia Politecnica Militar -- Academia Politecnica Militar, Santiago

• Colombia - 1

1. Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia -- Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia, Medellin

• Costa Rica - 3

1. CEFOF -- Centro de Transferencia Tecnológical, Alajuela
2. Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad -- Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad
3. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica -- Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica

None of these three websites appears acessible.

• Ecuador - 3

1. Escuela Politecnica Nacional -- Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Quito
2. Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo -- Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Riobamba
3. ESPOL -- Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral

• El Salvador - none listed

• Guatemala - none listed

• Honduras - 1

1. Zamorano, Tegucigalpa -- Pan American School of Agriculture, Tegucigalpa

• Mexico - 5

1. Centro de Enseñanza Técnica Industrial -- Technical and Industrial Teaching Centre (CETI) - Guadalajara
2. Instituto Politécnico Nacional -- Instituto Politécnico Nacional
3. ITESM -- ITESM Campus Guadalajara
4. ITESO -- Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, Guadalajara
5. ITESM Monterrey - Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey

• Nicaragua - none listed

• Panama - none listed

• Paraguay - none listed

• Peru - none listed

• Uruguay - 2

1. Escuela Superior de Electrotecnia y Electrónica -- Escuela Superior de Electrotecnia y Electrónica, Montevideo
2. ITM - Instituto Tecnológico de Montevideo, Montevideo

Neither website is accessible

Colleges in Hispanic America

The title 'College' is used almost indiscriminately across the region to describe a wide range of institutions, most of which only display a partial similarity to UK colleges. 'Colleges' in Hispanic America range from small rural organisations providing agricultural training, through some upper secondary schools (particularly private schools), to both general and specialised vocational training providers, post-graduate schools of some universities, notably USA based and even a USA Community College Brookdale Community College in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Most countries have vocational and professional training organisations, with a large majority in the public sector. There is a well developed network of 32 Instituciónes Técnicas Laborales (Technical colleges) in Colombia providing "Education for Work and Human Development" - vocational education focusing on labour market competences. Their programmes include education and training provided by businesses to their employees. The Colombian government promotes this kind of education as an alternative for university education, which is not accessible for the majority. Several of the leading Instituciónes Técnicas Laborales provide an extensive range of virtual programmes, delivered entirely online. Some of these - e.g. CESDE bear a strong resemblance to UK FE colleges.

Vocational education and training is highly developed in Uruguay. There are several colleges, especially in the Montevideo area, which have the same likenesses to UK FE colleges as in Colombia - e.g. Aldey Instituto, ISEDE and Instituto Agroveterinario. Although the Escuelas de C.B.T. y Técnica and the Escuelas Agrarias are classed by the Ministry as schools, their offer of higher level courses, following on from the lower secondary programme, are akin to the standard fare of vocational training in general FE and land-based colleges.

In Argentina there are 2129 'Superior no universitaria' (non-university colleges) providing tertiary education:

• 572 providing teacher training only
• 850 providing vocational training only
• 639 providing both teacher training and vocational training
• 68 providing general tertiary education.

Colleges along European lines providing further education and vocational training do not exist in Bolivia. However, NGOs provide vocational training, business administration skills, product marketing and micro-credit programmes to help parents, families and entire communities become self-sustaining.

In Panama there are around 80 Centros y Institutos Superiores providing tertiary level vocational programmes - Técnicos (technician and higher technician level training). Some of these offer programmes in a broad range of vocational areas, but most are specialised, providing training for one employment sector only.

Paraguay does not at present have a structure of colleges along the same lines as neighbouring countries and information about Peru is very sketchy.

Education reform in Hispanic America

There has been rapid development of the education systems in most Hispanic American countries over the past 15 years. Key areas include:

• Extending the years of compulsory education in some countries
• Using ICT to transform education and training - see the section on ICT in education for a broad picture
• Improving educational provision in rural areas - ICT is seen as a transformational tool
• Improving quality assurance
• Decentralising management functions
• Expanding higher education and professional training

Mexico provides a good illustration of many of the education development and reform issues across the region. Although many improvements were made towards the end of the 20th century, at the start of the 21st century the education system was still largely centralised and highly bureaucratic, with significant gender and regional inequalities and one third of the Mexican population did not complete their basic education cycle.

The first five year reform and development programme of the century (PNE: Programa Nacional de Educación 2001–2006) tackled several key issues, one of them being to take responsibility in supervising and reforming preschool education and to make it mandatory by 2008 for children aged 3 to 5. Following this, the SEP designed a second five year plan - the “Programa Sectorial de Educación 2007-2012” - with six objectives, each accompanied of quantitive goals and indicators applied to each level of education (primary, secondary and HE):

• Objective 1: to increase quality in education to improve students’ achievement levels.
• Objective 2: to extend education opportunities in order to reduce social disparities, gaps and to enhance equity.
• Objective 3: to encourage the use of ICT in the education system in order to support learning processes, to expand students’ skills for their future life and to facilitate their integration into the knowledge society.
• Objective 4: to provide a comprehensive educational offer that is a balance between providing citizenship values and developing skills and knowledge via regular classroom activities, practical teaching and an institutional context, in order to enhance democratic and multicultural coexistence.
• Objective 5: to offer quality education services to provide people with a high sense of social responsibility that enable them to enter the labour market in a productive and competitive way.
• Objective 6: to promote a management system that encourages the participation of education centres in the decision-making process, involves the responsibility of different social and educational stakeholders and increases both the students’ and the teachers’ security, openness and accountability.

Several Ministry of Education websites (e.g. Colombia) describe a strong vision for promoting and developing education at all levels with an increasingly strong emphasis on the use of ICT.

Administration and finance in Hispanic America

Administration is often devolved to provinces and municipalities and there is a strong move towards decentralisation - e.g. in Colombia.

In Argentina the State, the provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are responsible for planning, organizing, supervising and financing the national education system, ensuring access to education at all levels and modalities, creating and managing state-run educational establishments.

However, decentralisation often exists more in theory than practice - in Mexico, for example the government is only officially responsible for providing compulsory basic education, although it is also involved at the other three levels through public provision of preschool and upper secondary as well as public funding of higher education in most states. Governance is still centralized as the national level with the Secretaria de Educación (SEP)—setting the curriculum, selecting textbooks, hiring and firing school personnel, and setting salary schedules. Although Mexico decentralized the basic education system to its 32 states in 1992, this reform was mostly administrative, and did not diminish the centralization of decisionmaking. Overall, teachers and school administrators have little autonomy in the system.

Schools

Almost all Ministry websites contain statements about decentralisation, but the reality in most is still akin to the situation in Mexico described above.

Post-secondary

All countries have at least one national state university. This is usually controlled, and certainly overseen, by a department of the Ministry of Education - e.g. in Argentina the national state creates and funds the National Universities. Private universities, which exist in all the region's countries, are accredited by the Ministry, but generally enjoy a relatively high degree of independence, particularly where they span several countries. Many of them have links with universities overseas, and where they operate as overseas campuses of European or US universities they may have less administrative and financial autonomy.

Fees and student loans are issues in many countries, as in western Europe. For example, in Chile the Secretary of State announced a package of reforms for higher education in August 2011. These involve reducing the interest on student loans to 2% with retroactive effect to extend the benefits of student aid for the middle class through a combination of scholarships and loans, in addition to sending projects legislation to establish the demunicipalisation of public education and the creation of the Superintendency of Higher Education to enforce the law prohibiting for-profit universities.

Quality assurance, inspection and accreditation in Hispanic America

Most Ministry of Education websites give details of government agencies, either within the Ministry or linked to it, which are responsible for quality assurance and monitoring and effectively act as an Inspectorate. In many cases the same body has responsibility for schools, colleges and higher education. An exception is Uruguay which has different branches of the Ministry overseeing general education in schools (CES) and vocational education (CETP), whether this is in schools, colleges and institutes or organised by professional bodies.

Schools

Accreditation

Most countries have a school leaving certificate at the end of the compulsory phase of secondary education and most also use certificte the successful completion of upper secondary education with the Bachillerato, which acts as the matriculation qualification for university entry - this is parallel to the system in Spain.

Quality assurance and inspection

Examples of government agencies responsible for quality assurance and monitoring include:

• DiNIECE - Argentina, the Dirección Nacional de Información y Evaluación de la Calidad Educativa, which publishes annual education statistics covering a wide range of metrics; commissions and publishes reports on curriculum development, curricular and pedagogical issues; and has powers to intervene at regional, district and institutional level in case of problems.
• In Bolivia there is a national accreditation agency which covers all the country's universities, both private and public. Its remit includes evaluation and accreditation of institutions and programmes, guaranteeing the quality of institutions and programmes as well as facilitating the development of a Higher Education system which is integrated, cooperative and supportive.
• Sistema de Medición de Calidad de la Educación (SIMCE) in Chile, which performs similar functions.
• ICFES (Colombian Institute for Educational Evaluation) is the Colombia government department responsible for accreditation and monitoring of secondary schools. It offers educational assessment in all educational levels and supports the Ministry of National Education in the development and administration of state assessments and in systematic investigation about the factors that influence the quality of education, to provide useful and timely information that contributes in the improvement of the quality of education.
• In Paraguay The Consejo Nacional de Educacion y Cultura, part of the Ministry of Education and Culture, oversees development of school education and collects statistics. The Ministry directs the general curriculum and issues frequent circulars.
• In Uruguay the Ministry of Education and Culture takes direct responsibility for accreditation, inspection and quality assurance.

Post-secondary

In Argentina, under the ministry, SPU, the Dirección Nacional de Gestión Universitaria (National Bureau of University Management) is responsible for coordinating the process of creation, modification and deletion of Private Universities Academic units; the licensing procedures and curriculum in connection with the CONEAU, the Comisión Nacional de Evaluación y Acreditación Universitaria (National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation)); developing proposals for minimum hourly charges, core curriculum and standards of professional practice; proposing criteria for national validity of academic degrees and titles; and performing the duties attached to the Technical Secretariat of the Council of Universities.

Chile has a parallel body Sistema Nacional de Aseguramiento de la Calidad de la Educacion Superior - this detailed document sets out its functions.

In Paraguay accreditation and quality assurance of higher education is carried out by ANEAES - the National Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education, an agency of the Ministry of Education and Culture. This body has technical and academic autonomy to produce

• technical reports on projects and institutions, at the request of the Ministry
• consultative documents on evaluation and accreditation
• accreditation of programmes that ANEAES itself has evaluated.

Peru has a CONEAU that operates in a similar way to the Argentina agency of the same name.

ICT in education initiatives in Hispanic America

In Argentina DiNIECE, the Ministry of Education department for quality assurance operates a Virtual Campus for internal training in evaluating educational policy, training education managers and teachers and facilitating public access to information. Its stated aims are improving quality and equity.

Virtual initiatives in schools

There have been many initiatives in the first decade of the 21st century in countries of the region. These have included:

• national ICT programes fo schools, often part-funded and provided by EU countries and the USA;
• commercial organisations establishing networks of telecentres;
• specific projects targted at remote and rural areas;
• online programmes and courses for expatriates.

In Argentina, El Surco Escuela Virtual, Mendoza appears to be a virtual school, but from its Facebook page, the web address is inaccessible. Also in Argentina ORT Virtual Campus offers virtual education at all levels from secundaria ciclo básico to higher education.

In Bolivia there is an IICD supported programme, the National ICT Programme for the Education Sector. The national ICT programme for education is focused on assisting and improving the quality of primary and secondary education in Bolivia through ICT. Key activities are:

• Enhancing access to ICT for teaching and learning. This is to be done by setting up of education community telecentres linked to primary and secondary schools in all nine departments of Bolivia
• Providing digital educational content through the education portal [1].

The ICT programme is a key pillar of the government's education policy next to a national digitisation programme. The Bolivian ministry of education is highly active in finding new ways to incorporate information and communication technologies. The ministry is a member of the IICD-supported national ICT network ‘TIC Bolivia’, a network that brings together people in various sectors (livelihoods, governance and education) who work with ICT.

Initially the national ICT for education programme has been implemented as a separate program of the Ministry of Education. In 2010, a new ICT directorate has been created under the Vice Ministry of Science and Technology.

For Colombia a journal article describes the founding in 1998 of the first virtual school in Bogotá -Colombia Virtual Ibero America, Virtual Century College XXI, with permission from the education authorities to certify students in primary and secondary education, who study at primary and secondary levels. Students may attend one day a week for tutorials and sports and cultural activities. It was accredited by ICFES, but there is no clear link to a current website. Source: [www.quadernsdigitals.net/index.php?accionMenu=hemeroteca...id...]

In Colombia Plataforma Escuela Virtual is the VLE for Escuela Virtual de Caldas. The last entry on the school blog is from 2008 and the VLE does not appear to have progressed beyond the first two stages of development.

Escuela 20 Uruguay offers a range of fully online courses across the secondary curriculum through its VLE. Courses start in February and August each year. It is aimed primarily at expatriate families.

Virtual initiatives in post-secondary education

Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) is a federation of online providers across the whole of South America, Central America, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean which is active in Uruguay and many of the other countries in the region.

• Argentina: Universidad del Salvador and Universidad Maimónides have interesting virtual campus initiatives.
• Bolivia has relatively few examples of highly developed online learning: the best example is the Universidad Andina Simón Bolivar.

• In Uruguay:

1. Centro Nacional de Educación a Distancia offers a range of vocational training programmes online.
2. The Labour University of Uruguay offers a range of virtual training courses in industrial processes in association with local institutes and vocational training providers.
3. The School of Social Psychology of Montevideo offers an online programme of graduate courses. The website shows links with universities and institutes in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Portugal but not all the weblinks are accessible.

References

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