Higher Education
Venezuela has more than 90 institutions of higher education, with 860,000 students in 2002. 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, instead of improving primary and secondary education, the government established the Bolivarian University system in 2003, which designed to democratize access to "higher education" by offering heavily politicised study programmes to the public with only minimal entrance requirements. Autonomous public universities have had their operational budgets frozen by the state since 2004, and staff salaries frozen since 2008 despite inflation of 20-30% annually.
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 completing a three-year programme. Universities award the student with the title of Ingeniero (literally, Engineer) after completing 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 conventions of the United States (being named "Master's" and "Doctorate" after the programs there).
In 2009 the government passed a law to establish a national standardised university entrance examination system, replacing public universities' internal entrance examinations. Some universities have rejected the new system as it creates difficulties for planning. The system has still not been formally implemented by the State. The previous line is a good example of the Venezuelan Government's official line toward the autonomous universities where democratic elections have failed to give the state party any significant victories.
Read more about this topic: Education In Venezuela
Famous quotes by higher education:
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)