El Salvador

Partners situated in El Salvador

None.

El Salvador in a nutshell

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_salvador)

El Salvador (Spanish: República de El Salvador, literally meaning Republic of the Saviour) is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. It borders the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras. It lies on the Gulf of Fonseca, as does Nicaragua further south.

El Salvador has a population of approximately 5.7 million people as in 2009 in an area of 21,000 km2.

The capital city of San Salvador is the most important metropolis of the republic, with about 2.1 million people; an estimated 42% of El Salvador's population live in rural areas.

El Salvador eliminated its currency, the colón, and adopted the U.S. dollar in 2001.

El Salvador is divided into 14 departments (departamentos), which, in turn, are subdivided into 262 municipalities (municipios).

El Salvador has the third largest economy in the region (behind Costa Rica and Panama) when comparing nominal Gross Domestic Product and purchasing power GDP. El Salvador's GDP per capita stands at US$6,200, however, this "developing country" is still among the 10 poorest countries in Latin America. Most of El Salvador's economy has been hampered by natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, but El Salvador currently has a steadily growing economy

As of 2004, there were approximately 3.2 million Salvadorans living outside El Salvador, with the US traditionally being the destination of choice for Salvadorans looking for greater economic opportunity. Salvadorans also live in nearby Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The majority of expatriates emigrated during the civil war of the 1980s for political reasons and later because of adverse economic and social conditions. Other countries with notable Salvadoran communities include Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom (including the Cayman Islands), Sweden, Brazil, Italy and Australia. There is also a large community of Nicaraguans, 100,000 according to some figures, many of them are seasonal immigrants

Spanish is the official language and is spoken by virtually all inhabitants (some indigenous people still speak their native tongues, but all speak Spanish). English is also spoken by some throughout the republic. Many Salvadorans have studied or lived in English-speaking countries (primarily the US, but also Canada and Australia), including many young Salvadorans deported from the United States, many of whom had grown up speaking only English. Furthermore, today all public schools teach English as a required course in both primary and secondary school.

Although more than half of El Salvador's residents are Catholic, Protestantism is growing rapidly and represents nearly 30% of the population. The Catholic Church plays an important role in the Salvadoran culture.

El Salvador education system

The public education system in El Salvador is severely lacking in resources. Class sizes in public schools can reach 50 children, so Salvadorans who can afford the cost often choose to send their children to private schools. Lower-income families are forced to rely on the public education system.

Education in El Salvador is free through high school. During high school students have the option of a two-year high school or a three-year high school. A two-year high school prepares the student to transfer to a university. A three-year high school allows the student graduate with a vocational career and enter the workforce or transfer to a university as well to further their education in that field. The national literacy rate is 80%

Higher education

Universities in El Salvador

The Post-Secondary education varies widely in price. The cheapest university in El Salvador is the University of El Salvador.

University of El Salvador (Universidad de El Salvador)

The University of El Salvador is partially funded by the state yet maintains administrative and educational autonomy. It is the only public university in the country. Its web site is at http://www.ues.edu.sv (Spanish only). It has a virtual library project - see http://virtual.ues.edu.sv/bvues/

Private universities

El Salvador has several (fully) private universities:

1. Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado,UJMD
2. Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas”, UCA
3. Universidad Francisco Gavidia, UFG
4. Universidad Tecnologica, UTec
5. Universidad Don Bosco, UDB
6. Universidad Evangelica
7. Universidad de Nueva San Salvador, UNSS
8. Universidad Albert Einstein
9. Universidad Alberto Masferrer
10. Universidad Modular Abierta, UMA
11. Universidad Polytecnica
12. Universidad Catolica de Occidente, UNICO
13. Escuela de Comunicación Mónica Herrera, ECMH
14. Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios, ESEN

An intriguing but rather out of date set of quirky pen-pictures of universities in El Salvador is at http://www.ostamyy.com/Universities/El-Salvador.htm

Polytechnics in El Salvador

Local Foundations and NGOs are fostering further education development.

Virtual Campuses in HE

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

(another very important section)

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

References

Wikipedia

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_salvador
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_El_Salvador
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_El_Salvador

Others

1. Descriptions of universities in El Salvador, unknown date, http://www.ostamyy.com/Universities/El-Salvador.htm

---

> Countries
>> Main Page