Colombia

After completing secondary education, students wishing to attend a university must pass the official entrance examination, El Examen de Estado (The State Examination). For many years, students applying for higher education had to possess a Bachiller (secondary school) diploma and pass an exam. In 1980, the Ministry of National Education issued a decree that made this common practice a legal requirement. Although the state examination is administered through the Servicio Nacional de Pruebas, each institution weighs the results in accordance with its own academic requirements. Thus, universities and colleges determine what level of performance they can demand of students in order to fill their own enrollment quotas. Although admission is based on academic performance, the students in institutions of higher learning come disproportionately from high-income families (Wellington; Hanratty and Meditz).

In 1940, there were fewer than 3,000 students enrolled in universities studying to enter medicine, law, and engineering. The main objective of this system was to transmit information that students had to memorize. However, university programs changed as a result of the growth of national industries. Called "modernización" (moderization), these economic changes required more specialized technicians, workers, engineers, accountants, managers, and economists. Consequently, universities have diversified their programs and opened them to many social groups (Parra).

In 1980, the Ministry of National Education officially established four levels of higher education: intermediate professional studies, technological studies, university studies, and graduate studies. Within these categories, the number of institutions grew rapidly. In 1970, the Colombian Association of Universities recognized 25 public and private universities. However, the National University Fund identified 65 more institutions of higher learning. By the late 1980s, there were more than 235 institutions of higher learning, and in 1999, university enrollment exceeded 807,000 students. (Wellington).

The number of applications to public universities exceeded the schools' capacity to accept students. Facing such demand, public universities raised their admission requirements. One reason for the large number of applications was that tuition in a public university was based on the parents' declared income. This made education affordable. Furthermore, since 1950, completion of higher education has been the avenue for social mobility. To meet the increased demand for higher education, more private universities and technical institutes were opened (Parra).

In 1993, a study demonstrated the importance of finishing college in Colombia. After surveying 4,027 workers in Bogotá, the researchers found that students who dropped out of an institution of higher learning held jobs of lower status with less pay than students who successfully completed the programs. However, students who failed exams and had to repeat them, or who repeated some grades in any school, did not earn less or work at some lower level (Psacharopoulos and Velez).

When universities grew to meet the demand for higher education, the institutions could not find faculty to teach the classes. In 1970, for example, the University of Antioquia ranked as one of the best schools, with a well-planned new campus and above average financial support. Although it had eight basic departments, the staff in those departments was underqualified. In the department of mathematics, one professor had a master's degree. The other instructors included six civil engineers, one chemical engineer, an economist, eight teachers with bachelor's degrees in education, and two people without degrees in higher education (Waggoner).

At any rate, in the 1990s, higher education in Colombia expanded more than the other, lower levels of education. Private institutions grew faster than public ones. Unfortunately, most observers agreed that the institutions grew at the expense of quality. They offered courses in areas that did not meet the developmental needs of the country. Since the faculty members were often untrained, they did not engage in scientific or technical research (Hanratty and Meditz).