“Higher education is a right and a public good”
(Transcription of Karina Batthyány's Column)
in InfoCLACSO – February 17, 2021)
-If you agree, Karina, we can move on to the topic you had planned for today: I'm thinking in terms of the current situation about the role of Higher Education, but also how it stands in the context not only of what is happening today with the pandemic but more generally, what is the importance of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean?
-Exactly. The idea is to address this topic beyond the pandemic. And why now? Because we are, at least in southern Latin America and the Caribbean, at the very beginning of the semester and the university year, and of education in general. It seemed appropriate to bring up this topic of Higher Education and University Education in Latin America and the Caribbean.
To that end, let's briefly review, as we always do, some information and figures to provide context for this topic. I'm going to use the latest data from UNESCO-IESALC specifically on this point. What do these latest figures show us? That our Latin American and Caribbean region is one of those that has made the most progress in terms of the gross enrollment rate in higher education. And that, according to the latest available data, it increased from 23% to 52% in 2018, which is the most recent data available.
This is very good news. And there's a second piece of very good news: within this overall increase, which has reached 52% in higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, there has been an increase in women's access to higher education. Of course, this is a trend we've been observing over the last 20 years, but focusing on this century, the increase in female enrollment in Latin American and Caribbean universities also reflects the results of some of the policies actively developed in the region to promote gender equality in education.
But if we look a little closer, we find some news that is perhaps not so encouraging or positive, particularly when we examine the relationship between access to higher education and the socioeconomic profile of students. Who appears there? Again, the inequality we have analyzed in several of the programs here at InfoCLACSO. Because there we realize that enrollments are concentrated in the wealthiest social strata. For example, between 2000 and 2018, according to UNESCO-IESALC data, the percentage growth in the gross enrollment rate among the poorest people in the region was 5%, reaching 10% in 2018. Meanwhile, among the wealthiest, the growth was 22%, reaching a rate of 77% in 2018. If we look at the lower-income sectors, enrollment reaches 10%, while if we look at the higher-income sectors, it reached almost 80% in 2018.
Obviously we have to wait a little while, but these figures, this inequality gap that I am showing, will surely be accentuated by the scenarios of exclusion that were accentuated as a result of the pandemic.
What is the general situation with higher education in Latin America? If we had to put a number on it, we could say that in our region we have approximately 30 million students in higher education. And, as I said, this has been growing year after year, with an approximate annual growth rate of 4%: more in some countries, less in others, as is always the case within Latin America and the Caribbean.
Now, when we examine this growth—how it occurs and its characteristics—we find that, with the exception of some countries like Argentina, Cuba, and Uruguay, the proportional growth in private higher education is greater in the rest of our region. It's important to remember that private education systems obviously face an initial barrier to entry: the need to pay for that education. For example, in 2017, private higher education represented the majority of higher education in Chile (84%), Peru (74%), and Brazil (73%), and we could continue analyzing other countries. The average for the entire Latin American region is 54%.
So why bring this up? Because once again, it highlights the profound inequalities in access to something as basic as education, in this case, higher education, which is a right; the profound inequalities within countries and also between countries in Latin America. Here, we also find differences in the relationship between public and private education, because, as I just mentioned, the average for private education is 54% in Latin America, but in some countries like Chile, Peru, and Brazil (which I just mentioned), it is considerably higher.
There's another point I think is important: when we look at those millions of higher education students and how they're distributed across Latin America and the Caribbean, we see that 96% of enrollment is concentrated in just eight countries in the region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Of course, many of the most populous countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are also there, but those eight countries account for 96% of enrollment.
The last point I'd like to leave you with for reflection, as something to consider moving forward, is precisely this idea of the relationship between the public and private sectors in higher education. And ultimately, also the process of commodification and privatization of higher education that our region is experiencing in some cases and in some countries.
Let us remember that higher education is also one of the goals; that is, access to higher education as a right, as a public good, as a right for everyone, is one of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, defined by countries at the United Nations. Specifically, it is goal 4.3, which states that by 2030 we must ensure equal access for all to quality technical, vocational, and higher education, including university education. And of course, this is related to other development goals defined for the 2030 Agenda, such as ending poverty, achieving good health and well-being, promoting gender equality, and ensuring employment, among others.
So, in short, what I want to raise is the need to re-establish the defense of higher education, the fight for higher education as a public good and as a human right, linked of course to the processes that are taking place in each of the countries to work in this direction, but without forgetting that this must also be a proposal on the agenda of the regional integration processes.
-I would ask you to repeat those figures regarding how many lower-income sectors are represented in higher education compared to those from higher-income backgrounds. Because I heard 10% and 80%, is the difference in access to higher education really that significant?
-Exactly. That's if we compare the data, the growth in the gross enrollment rate between the poorest in the region and those with more resources. There we see that in 2018, the growth rate for those with the fewest resources was barely 10%, while for those with the most resources it was 77%. If we compare the growth year by year this year, the growth rate among the poorest is less than 5%, while among those with the most resources it's greater than 20%. But I think the key figures to remember are that gap between 10% and 77%, or 10% and 80%, in terms of the higher education enrollment rate.
-In that sense, it's a popular way of describing the transformative impact of popular education, not only on individuals but also on society as a whole. What data do you think should be presented regarding the transformative impact of higher education in the most marginalized and impoverished sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean?
It's like the foundation for all rights. That's why I insisted on this idea of higher education as a right and a public good, and the need for everyone to have access to the different forms of higher education, but completing that cycle. Why? To be able to have, among other things, for example, access to quality work, dignified work, decent work, to improve one's overall life skills. That's why we believe this issue is very important, and it's very important to remember it this February, when many countries, at least in southern Latin America and the Caribbean, are preparing to begin their academic year under conditions aggravated or made more difficult by the pandemic.
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