BBIM - Variations - South America - Colombia

Colombia

In Colombia secondary school has two milestones, in 9th and 11th grades. After completing the first 4 years of secondary school (6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades) a student is considered to have completed the basic secondary school while after completed the last two years (10th and 11th grades) is considered to have completed "bachillerato" or high school diploma.

This degree can be only academic (the most common) or:

• military, given by military specialised schools and gives the opportunity for male students not to go to obligatory military service.
• commercial, which grants students focussed skills on accountancy.
• technical, which grants students focussed skills on technical abilities such in electricity, mechanics and related matters.
• normal, which grants students focussed skills on elementary education.

After graduating from high-school, hopeful students must present a nation-wide exam that determines their eligibility to apply for their desired program, depending on the score the student achieves on the exam. In Colombia the system of academic degrees is similar to the U.S. model. After completing their "bachillerato" (high school), students can take one of three options. The first one is called a "Profesional" (professional career), which is similar to a Bachelor's Degree requiring from four to 6 years of study according to the chosen program. The other option is called a "Técnico" (technician); this degree consists of only two and a half years of study and prepares the student for technical or mechanical labors. Finally, the third option is called a ¨Tecnólogo¨ (equivalent to Associate degree), and consist of 3 years of study. A technical school gives to the student, after a program of two years, an under graduate degree in areas like software development, networks and IT, accountancy, nursing and other areas of health services, mechanics, electricity and technic-like areas.

Universities offer graduate degrees in ICFES endorsed programs like medicine, engineering, laws, accountancy, business management and other professional areas. A typical undergraduate program usually takes 10 or 11 semesters and some (i.e. medicine) require an additional period of service or practice to apply for the degree. A student who has obtained an undergraduate degree can opt to continue studying a career after completing their undergraduate degree by continuing onto Master's and Doctorate degrees. They can also choose to a specialization in certain fields of study by doing an extra year.

ICFES is the national authority for the education quality. A complete list of under graduate and graduate programs approved by ICFES can be found here: http://snies.mineducacion.gov.co/ConsultaSnies/ConsultaSnies/consultarInfoProgramasAcademicos.jsp