Venezuela

Original entry by Paul Bacsich for Re.ViCa with focus on universities, updated for schools by Giles Pepler for VISCED.

For entities in Venezuela see Category:Venezuela

Partners and experts situated in Venezuela

None.

Venezuela in a nutshell

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

Venezuela, officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea.

Venezuela possesses recognized borders with Guyana to the east of the Essequibo river, Brazil to the south, and Colombia to the west. The islands of Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St Lucia, Barbados, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Leeward Antilles lie just north, off the Venezuelan coast.

Source : http://www.cia.gov

The area of Venezuela is 916,445 km² with an estimated population of over 26 million.

The capital is Caracas.

Venezuela is known widely for its petroleum industry, the environmental diversity of its territory, and its natural features. Venezuela is considered to be among the world's 18 most biodiverse countries, featuring diverse wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America; the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital Caracas which is also the largest city. Other major cities include Maracaibo, Valencia, Maracay, Barquisimeto and Ciudad Guayana.

Venezuela is divided into 23 states (Estados), a capital district (distrito capital) corresponding to the city of Caracas, the Federal Dependencies (Dependencias Federales, a special territory), and Guayana Esequiba (claimed in a border dispute with Guyana). The states are grouped into nine administrative regions (regiones administrativas), which were established by presidential decree.

Venezuela is further subdivided into 335 municipalities (municipios); these are subdivided into over one thousand parishes (parroquias).

Historically, Venezuela has also claimed all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River; this 159,500 square kilometres (61,583 sq mi) tract was dubbed Guyana Esequiba or the Zona en Reclamación (the "zone to be reclaimed").

Venezuela's birth rate is among the highest in South America, after Bolivia, Paraguay and French Guyana. Since 1930, the Venezuelan census does not collect information about ethnicity so only rough estimates are available. Some 60% of the population are Mestizo (defined as a mixture of Europeans and Amerindians); another 30% are unmixed whites (mostly of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German descent). The national and official language is Spanish; 31 indigenous languages are also spoken, including Guajibo, Pemon, Warao, Wayuu, and the various Yanomaman languages.

According to government estimates, 92% of the population is at least nominally Roman Catholic, and the remaining 8% are Protestant, a member of another religion, or non-religious.

Education in Venezuela

(this and the following sections on education are sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Venezuela - augmented by other sources since the Wikipedia entry ia challenged as being uncited and out of date in parts)

Historically, Venezuela has tried to maintain a high standard of education. The Venezuelan government remains committed to the idea that every citizen is entitled to a free education despite some criticism of the system.

Nine years of education are compulsory education. The school year extends from September to June-July. The student population and the education budget have increased, but many children do not attend school because of poverty. An estimated 20% of the population is without any formal education. The Ministry of Education of Venezuela's efforts are aimed at adapting the curriculum to the demands of an increasingly technological society, expanding compulsory education, and upgrading teacher qualifications.

The Ministry of Education proclaims its mission and vision as:

• MISSION: "To promote and ensure socio-cultural development for the Venezuelan people through comprehensive training of all citizens and a citizen, as the governing body of educational policies in accordance with the guidelines of the State and committed to popular participation to a higher level of development, manifesting the universalization of education and strengthening access, retention and continuation. "
• VISION: "To be an institution for citizens in a democratic society, a self-reliant, participatory, multi-ethnic and multicultural society with ethical values ​​of justice, equity and national identity, able to be creative, supportive, cooperative, responsible, critical and tolerant with social relevance in harmony with the environment and the cultural context, with a vision of Latin America, Caribbean and the world."

Its strategic objectives and policies are expressed as:

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

• To strengthen the consolidation of the Basic Education System through a curriculum consistent with constitutional, political, economic and social development
• Modernize, improve and equip the educational institutions, as ideal places to teach and practice democratic, participatory and
• Strengthen national systems of supervision and training of teachers to ensure implementation of policies that involve strengthening the Bolivarian education process
• Develop, provide and implement tools related to learning processes that support teaching
• Strengthen capacity for planning, monitoring, control and decision making of educational activity, leading to a measurement in real terms for each of the educational projects at different levels and modalities
• Ensure improved quality of life of the student population and working, from the satisfaction of basic needs, to raise the biopsychosocial aspects, economic, environmental and cultural Basic Education System and the community.
• To transform the structures of the Ministry of Popular Power for Education and its affiliated entities, according to the guidelines of the National Executive, and the way forward in the Venezuelan political process, strengthening school communities and student organizations, teachers and representatives, as maximum expressions of popular power based on the Basic Education System.

POLICIES

• Integral quality education free for all
• Promotion of the education system and the system of production and services
• Development of both physical plant and educational provision
• Incorporation of information technologies and communication in the educational process
• Improving the quality of life for workers
• Modernization and institutional strengthening

Schools in Venezuela

1. Many children under five attend a preschool.
2. Children are required to attend school from the age of six. They attend primary school until they are eleven.
3. They are then promoted to the second level of basic education, where they stay until they are 14 or 15.

Public school students usually attend classes in shifts. Some go to school from early in the morning until about 1:30pm and others attend from early afternoon until about 6:00pm. All schoolchildren wear uniforms. Although education is mandatory for children, some poor children do not attend school because they must work to support their families.

Venezuelan education starts at the preschool level, which can be roughly divided into Nursery (ages below 4) and Kindergarten (ages 4–6). Students in Nursery are usually referred to as "yellow shirts", after the color of uniform they must wear according to the Uniform Law, while students in Kindergarten are called "red shirts".

Basic education comprises grades 1 through 6, and lacks a general governing programme outside of the Mathematics curriculum. English is taught at a basic level throughout Basic education. Students are referred to as "white shirts". Upon completing Basic education, students are given a Basic Education Certificate.

Middle education (grades 7-9) explores each one of the sciences as a subject and algebra. English education continues and schools may choose between giving Ethics or Catholic Religion. Students are referred to as "blue shirts".

Once a student ends 9th grade, they enter Diversified education, so called because the student must choose between studying either humanities or the sciences for the next two years. This choice usually determines what majors they can opt for at the college level. Students are referred to as "beige shirts". Upon compleating Diversified education (11th grade), students are given the title of Bachiller en Ciencias (literally, Bachelor of the Sciences) or Bachiller en Humanidades (literally, Bachelor of Humanities). Some schools may include professional education, and instead award the title of Técnico en Ciencias (literally, Technician of the Sciences)

Further and Higher education in Venezuela

Venezuela has more than 90 institutions of higher education - public and private - with more than 6 million students. Higher education remains free under the 1999 constitution and was receiving 35% of the education budget, even though it accounted for only 11% of the student population.

More than 70% of university students come from the wealthiest quintile of the population. To address this problem, the government established the Bolivarian University system in 2003, which designed to democratize access to higher education.

Higher education institutions are traditionally divided into Technical Schools and Universities:

• Technical schools award the student with the tile of Técnico Superior Universitario (literally, University Higher Technician, to distinguish from Technicians of the Sciences) or Licenciado (literally, Licentiate) after compleating a three-year programme.
• Universities award the student with the title of Ingeniero (literally, Engineer) after compleating a five-year programme. Some higher education institutions may award Diplomados (literally, Diplom) but the time necessary to obtain one varies.

Post-graduate education follows the conventions of the United States (being named "Master's" and "Doctorate" after the programmes there).

Universities in Venezuela

There is a list of many of the public and the private universities at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Venezuela

Among the older public ones are:

1. Universidad Central de Venezuela (1721), UCV - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_University_of_Venezuela
2. Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado (1962)
3. Universidad de Los Andes (1810), ULA - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Andes,_Venezuela
4. Universidad del Zulia (1891), LUZ - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Zulia
5. Universidad de Oriente (1958), UDO - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidad_de_Oriente
6. Universidad Simón Bolívar (1967), USB - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3n_Bol%C3%ADvar_University

See also:

• Universidad Nacional Abierta (1977), UNA
• Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador, UPEL - with an intriguing name but no information in English

ICT in education initiatives

OLX is a commercial website advertising an eclectic variety of courses, some of them offered on a completely virtual basis, including dry wall construction!

Virtual initiatives in post-secondary education

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

See The National Open University, Universidad Nacional Abierta (UNA). This was founded in 1977 in Caracas.

Interesting Programmes

See Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar - but note that this is just a branch campus (the headquarters is in Bolivia

References

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For OER policies and projects in Venezuela see Venezuela/OER

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