Ecuador

There is remarkably little research done on higher education in Ecuador, but the World Bank financial support of $400,000 will create an information bank. The goal of the project was to develop reforms based on an empirical study of the system. The information gathered was primarily on organization, inputs, and activity levels. It resulted in a series of 10 volumes (CONUEP 1992). The rationale for reform was that there was a crisis due to the democratization of education and the expansion of access to higher education. The growing interest from both foreign development aid organizations and local institutions to apply scientific principles to problem solving has brought foreign professionals to support and organize courses. Existing faculties will need to take over again in the coming years. Perhaps it is too much to hope for a system-wide, top-down reform, as equity-driven reforms have been largely minimal. Ecuador is in a revolution in terms of broad-based education, but its serious economic problems and lack of funding will force it to face terrible challenges and make draconian decisions in the coming years as it attempts to fund new universities. Greater research and support of its best students ought to be a goal, as well as the broadening of the base for the democratization of education. Ideally, the most capable of even the most marginalized and threatened groups could take advantage of the best that education has to offer. Their capacities could be utilized as human resources to enrich the larger society.