Investigating the Colombian University System: What Does the Future Hold?

Abstract

[EN] While there are encouraging recent narratives of Colombia as a booming center of innovation and economic growth, this positive commentary does not always match accounts regarding the country’s universities. This study investigates Colombia’s drastically changing university system through an analysis connecting larger policy initiatives to the sentiments and perceptions of stakeholders at the ground levels of university functions. The focus here is on recent policy decisions, what they look like at the ground level, and how some of these revisions compare to university trends elsewhere. This investigation of various stakeholders at a large public university in Colombia sheds light on growing student and university debt, modifications in university funding, the rapid growth of low-quality private universities, changing roles of faculty, and issues of student access. Recommendations include a more concerted use of student loan disbursement and sustained investment in the public universities.