Puerto Rico

Partners situated in Puerto Rico

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Puerto Rico in a nutshell

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

Puerto Rico, a colony of the US, even if officially called the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico) by the US Government, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands.

Source : http://www.cia.gov

Puerto Rico, geographically, is composed of an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands and keys, the largest of which are Vieques, Culebra, and Mona.

The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest by land area and second smallest by population among the four Greater Antilles, which also include Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica.

The population is nearly 4 million.

The capital is San Juan.

Ethnically, the people of Puerto Rico "constitute a Latin American and Caribbean nation that has its own unequivocal national identity".

Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquen, from Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name. The terms boricua and borincano derive from Borikén and Borinquen respectively, and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage. The island is also popularly known as La Isla del Encanto, which translates in English to The Island of Enchantment.

Puerto Rico has a republican form of government, subject to US jurisdiction and sovereignty. Its current powers are all delegated by the United States Congress and lack full protection under the United States Constitution. Puerto Rico's head of state is the President of the United States. Under the Constitution of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico is described as a "Commonwealth" and Puerto Ricans enjoy a degree of administrative autonomy similar to that of a US state.

On May 1, 2006, the Puerto Rican government faced significant shortages in cash flows, which forced the closure of the local Department of Education and 42 other government agencies. All 1536 public schools closed, and 95,762 people were laid off in the first-ever partial shutdown of the government in the island's history. On May 10, 2006, the budget crisis was resolved with a new tax reform agreement so that all government employees could return to work. On November 15, 2006 a 5.5% sales tax was implemented. Municipalities are required by law to apply a municipal sales tax of 1.5% bringing the total sales tax to 7%.

Tourism is an important component of Puerto Rican economy supplying an approximate $1.8 billion. In 1999, an estimated 5 million tourists visited the island, most from the US. Nearly a third of these are cruise ship passengers. A steady increase in hotel registrations since 1998 and the construction of new hotels and new tourism projects, such as the Puerto Rico Convention Center, indicate the current strength of the tourism industry.

Puerto Ricans had median household income of $17,741 for 2007, which makes Puerto Rico's economy comparable to the independent nations of Latvia or Poland. By comparison, the poorest state of the Union, Mississippi, had median household income of $36,338 in 2007. Puerto Rico’s public debt has grown at a faster pace than the growth of its economy, reaching $46.7 billion in 2008. In January 2009, the Governor enacted several measures aimed at eliminating the government's $3.3 billion deficit, including laying off over 30,000 government workers. The island unemployment rate is 12% as January 2009.

The Roman Catholic Church has been historically the dominant religion in Puerto Rico.

The official languages are Spanish and English. Spanish isthe primary language. English is taught as a second language in public and private schools from elementary levels to high school and in universities. Particularly, the Spanish of Puerto Rico has evolved and has many idiosyncrasies that differentiate it from the language as spoken in other Spanish-speaking countries. This is mainly due to the influences from ancestral languages, such as those from the Taínos and Africans, and more recently from the English language influence resulting from its relationship with the United States.

Puerto Rico education policy

Instruction at the primary school level is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 18 and is enforced by the state. The Constitution of Puerto Rico grants the right to an education to every citizen on the island. To this end, public schools in Puerto Rico provide free and non-sectarian education at the elementary and secondary levels.

Puerto Rico education system

Education in Puerto Rico is divided in three levels — Primary (elementary school grades 1-6), Secondary (intermediate and high school grades 7-12), and Higher Level (undergraduate and graduate studies).

As of 2002, the literacy rate of the Puerto Rican population was 94.1%; by gender, it was 93.9% for males and 94.4% for females. According to the 2000 Census, 60.0% of the population attained a high school degree or higher level of education, and 18.3% has a bachelor's degree or higher. This ranks as lowest and sixth lowest, respectively, among US states, where the national averages are 80.4% and 24.4%.

At any of the three levels, students may attend either public or private schools. As of 1999, there were 1532 public schools and 569 private schools in the island.

See complete List of universities in Puerto Rico

Higher education

The largest and oldest university system in Puerto Rico is the public University of Puerto Rico (UPR) with 11 campuses. The largest private university systems on the island are the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Mendez which operates the Universidad del Turabo, Metropolitan University and Universidad del Este, the multi-campus Inter American University, the Pontifical Catholic University, and the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Puerto Rico has four schools of Medicine and four Law Schools.

Universities in Puerto Rico

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Higher education reform

The Bologna Process

Not yet relevant for the US and its dependencies.

Virtual Campuses in HE

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

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Re.ViCa Case-study

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References

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