Access and Retention in Higher Education in Colombia: The Case of the Children’s University EAFIT

This paper presents a systematic review of the extent and nature of teaching and learning research in higher education in Colombia over the past two decades and shines light on a body of literature from the South that has been relatively invisible on the global stage. The study found that the volume of SOTL taking place in higher education in Colombia is greater than indicated by previous research, but is taking place unevenly across the higher education landscape. This paper explores the challenges faced by Colombian scholars in engaging in and publishing teaching and learning research. The findings show that while teaching and learning research is happening in higher education in Colombia there are major issues in identifying and locating that research due to a lack of consistent terminology to describe SOTL. The findings also show that the nature of research emerging from Colombia is highly aligned with the global North in terms of methods, methodologies and themes. This paper concludes with recommendations on how to make Colombian learning and teaching research more visible and to reflect to a greater extent the diversity and richness in teaching and learning that takes places in Colombia.
 
 How to cite this article: 
 REEDY, Alison Kay; GUERRERO FARÍAS; María Lucía. Teaching and learning research in higher education in Colombia: a literature review. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. v. 3, n. 2, p. 10-30, Sept. 2019. Available at: https://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=113&path%5B%5D=44 
 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
 To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Beyond the Mincer Equation: The Internal Rate of Return to Higher Education in Colombia

In order to present an estimation of the internal rate of return (IRR) to higher education in Colombia, we take advantage of recent updates on the methodological approach towards earnings equations. In order to overcome the criticism that surrounds interpretations of the education coefficient of Mincer equations as being the rate of return to investments in education we develop a more structured approach of estimation, which includes more accurate measures of labor income and the role of education costs and income taxes. Our results imply a lower rate of return than the ones found in the Colombian literature, obtained through conventional estimation of Mincer equations, and show that the IRR for higher education in Colombia lies somewhere between 0.074 and 0.128. The results vary according to the year analyzed and the individual's gender.

This paper will further discuss the need to incorporate creativity in university teaching practices based on playing as a didactic strategy. The above, by considering the challenges that when facing the post-conflict, higher education in Colombia is dealing with as mediated by the new technologies and the advances that the stimulation of creativity implies in the students of today. In this respect, this paper first details the impact the armed conflict has had in Colombian education and, later, elaborates on the relevance of bringing different teaching strategies associated with playing to help develop creativity and improve the teaching practices in higher education in Colombia.

PurposeA mission statement is the central axis of any organization and the cornerstone of its strategic planning. Universities have implemented this tool to define, among other things, its identity; however, the legal nature and functions of the mission statement have not been determined. In this article, the authors analyze the differences in the university mission statements of public and private higher education institutions in relation to the mission functions proposed by the 1992 legislation on higher education in Colombia – Law 30 – involving teaching, research, extension and social projection and internationalization.Design/methodology/approachThrough content analysis, the authors analyze the mission statements of two groups of institutions that make up the totality of universities in Colombia – 32 public and 53 private universities. The analysis is conducted along the four dimensions defined by the law as comprising the higher education mission, i.e. teaching, research, extension and social projection, and internationalization, due to its importance in the high-quality institutional accreditation process.FindingsBased on the differences identified in the mission statements, the authors establish the university functions and determine how they give back to society in their legal capacity as public or private institutions.Research limitations/implicationsThis research scenario is appropriate for answering research questions related to whether there are differences in the strategies of Colombian public and private universities based on their mission statements. Although the Colombian higher education system includes various types of tertiary institutions, only universities are included in the study.Practical implicationsResearch has shown that regardless of their legal nature, based on their mission statements, Colombian universities are mainly geared towards teaching. However, when comparing additional dimensions, private universities are less involved in research processes and more focused on activities related to social impact than are public universities. Additionally, private universities are more engaged in internationalization than are public institutions, with mission statements focused on both national and international accreditation processes.Social implicationsThe results of this research are intended to help society comprehend the differences between public and private universities in Colombia based on mission statements, which can contribute to understanding, among other factors, the academic programs offered by universities and how they should guide their activities.Originality/valueThis is the first such study in Colombia, a country that provides higher education through public and private institutions in very similar proportions, that analyses the differences in university mission statements and whose findings contribute to understanding whether universities are strategically oriented towards their own established policies or to contributing to the development of new public policies aimed at supporting the country's development process.

The objective of this study is to analyze the factors that determine the inequality in writing competence at higher education in Colombia. A linear hierarchical econometric model was estimated for obtaining the factors that determine the quality in higher education. Quality was used as a proxy through the results in the Saber Pro test in writing competence for the year 2014. The main results were that there is inequality in quality between the groups of students (90%), universities (5.8%), departments (2.3%), and regions (1.9%), where the first group presents the biggest gap. The factors that determine the difference in writing competence are: personal (being a woman, unmarried, and the value of the tuition); family (occupation of the mother and father, having benefit in health, having dependents, being granted a scholarship, having a greater number of academic credits, among others; and regional (dwelling in regions with high levels of poverty).

Introduction: Higher education in Colombia faces multiple challenges that limit access and educational quality. From its colonial roots to the present, socioeconomic and structural barriers persist that restrict educational equity.Methods: An exhaustive bibliographic review was carried out based on relevant academic sources obtained from databases such as Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to select documents relevant to the Colombian context.Results: Economic, social and educational barriers that affect access to higher education were identified. Socioeconomic inequality influences students' academic achievement, while public policies have attempted to mitigate these problems without achieving equitable access. Likewise, the high dropout rates reflect the insufficiency of strategies to guarantee student permanence.Conclusions: Higher education in Colombia continues to be inaccessible to large sectors of the population due to structural and socioeconomic factors. Despite advances in coverage, equity and educational quality remain pending challenges. More effective public policies and greater investment in educational inclusion programs are required to overcome these barriers.

Esta investigación tiene como eje teórico y conceptual la tecnología y la educación superior en Colombia, plantea como pregunta de investigación ¿Cuáles serán los principales retos y desafíos que tendrá la educación superior en Colombia al año 2050 por los avances tecnológicos? El enfoque metodológico que se utiliza para el desarrollo de esta investigación es de corte mixto cualitativo y cuantitativo, el tipo de investigación es descriptiva y mediante el método del análisis de una encuesta a expertos Delphi, y un taller con expertos. Ellos plantean la necesidadde nuevos modelos de gestión de las universidades hacia una mayor profesionalización de las carreras universitarias, en donde se incluyan estas nuevas tecnologías. Se puede resaltar que las tecnologías de la información ycomunicación evidentemente pueden llegar a afectar en su conjunto la educación superior, pero también pueden potenciar y facilitar los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje para que sea más incluyente

En este artículo se hace un recorrido por los enfoques y el estado de la educación lingüística en la educación superior en Colombia, pero al mismo tiempo su situación se articula a cómo se le ha dispuesto en la educación básica y media, en el entendido que muchas de las carencias de la educación lingüística en las universidades no tienen explicación razonable sin una aproximación de lo que sucede en esos otros niveles del sistema educativo. Por eso se acude también al registro de algunas cifras de las pruebas PISA que indican las carencias evidentes en el aprendizaje del lenguaje. Se presenta, además, un recuento breve de lo que de algún modo es el mapa de los micro-currículos que se ofrecen en este campo en las universidades, y se ponen en contexto las competencias que en el área de lenguaje se evalúan en las pruebas Saber Pro. Finalmente, se propone una ruta de lo que tendría que revisarse para mejorar la educación lingüística en la educación superior en Colombia.

Este texto muestra los resultados de la investigación, “La calidad de la educación superior en Colombia en el nuevo orden mundial”, la cual pretendía hacer una aproximación a la problemática que se teje en torno al hecho de que la educación superior tiene problemas estructurales relacionados con la calidad, debido a que está sometida a la lógica del mercado; y, específicamente, dar una solución a la pregunta:¿cómo es que la lógica del mercado genera problemas estructurales relacionados con la calidad en la educación superior en Colombia? Para lograr el cometido anterior, se utilizó como metodología el análisis crítico del discurso, lo que permitió plantear una aproximación al concepto de calidad de la educación superior, así como también, mostrar algunas de las contradicciones que subyacen cuando los gobiernos tratan de llevar a la práctica este concepto. Por último se plantearon algunas propuestas y conclusiones alrededor del tema.

This document studies the statistical relationship between public and private financing and the demand for higher education in Colombia. In particular, it addresses the three main cities in Colombia during 1990-2005. Through a panel data estimation, this study finds that increases in the average interest rate on education loans have a significant impact on the number of students registered (or "university enrollment”) at higher education institutions. On the other hand, increases in wages for individuals that have attained higher education (namely, undergraduate or graduate degrees at colleges and/or universities) have a positive impact on the demand for higher education.

En los últimos años se han venido ensayando estrategias exitosas diversas, tanto desde el contexto propio de la universidad, como desde otros contextos internacionales. Estos antecedentes empíricos, apoyados por datos impresionísticos o validados con evidencias internacionales justifican la formalización de un programa de investigación e innovación docente universitaria centrado en las competencias genéricas de lectura crítica LC y construcción textual CT. Para ello, parece pertinente el analizar estos antecedentes. Además, tres tipos de debates internacionales y muy presentes en Colombia, introducen una gran complejidad al campo, faltando evidencias empíricas contrastadas y validadas para la toma de decisiones. Por una parte, sobre los avances y las perspectivas de la evaluación (Tamayo et al., 2018); en segundo lugar, los límites y problemas que surgen con el modelo de competencias (Barnet, 2001; Díaz-Flórez, 2018) en ambos casos, con muchos debates y reflexiones sobre priorización de la calidad sobre los sistemas de evaluación o sobre el constructo de competencia (Ravitch, 2013), ello especialmente candente cuando se aborda la cuestión de la formación inicial del profesorado (preservice teachers, García-Martín & García-Sánchez, 2017) en Colombia (Arias-Gómez et al., 2018). Y por último, el debate clásico de la enseñanza activa de Dewey, el aprendizaje significativo de Ausubel, el aprendizaje por descubrimiento de Bruner, o el gran desarrollo del enfoque socio histórico cultural de Vigotsky y su pedagogía desde la ZDP y que se concreta en modelos completos de enseñanza y aprendizaje de carreras como el que sigue el aprendizaje basado en problemas ABP (Fernández et al., 2006; García, 2002); cuestión que se refleja en el informe sobre la educación superior en Colombia de la OCDE (2016). Se trata de un Proyecto de Investigación Competitivo CONV-ÍNDEX Núm. 13-2018, Código Proyecto INV. 150-01-007-13 Universidad de la Costa (Colombia) – Universidad de León (España). Evaluado por la ACAC (MEN Colombia).

The development of higher education in Colombia is discussed in terms of its recent quantitative expansion and the accompanying qualitative differentiation. Beginning in 1980 with the University Reform of that year, the state sought to give shape to the system by policies intended (i) to improve its organization (ii) to expand it on more democratic lines and (iii) to improve its quality. The authors discuss the developments which marked attempts to implement these aims. Two critical policy areas emerged—the funding of the system and the administration of the public sector part of it. Current debates are analysed and the authors provide pointers to possible future developments including the development of a highly stratified system with little interaction between the top and the bottom.

Education can be seen as a driver for social development because people with a higher level of education can access a better income and a better quality of life. The Colombian state has proclaimed various public policies that guarantee this right, especially for rural populations that face more disparities resulting from the internal armed conflict and drug trafficking, among other issues. The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution of public policies for access to rural higher education in Colombia, as well as the starting point of the policies implemented. An interpretative method was adopted to consider the purpose of public policies from various perspectives. The results show that education can be perceived as one of the ways in which states can overcome social disparities in rural areas, which would mean different public policies for access, permanence, and timely graduation to higher education.

This paper reviews the potential impact of pre‐entry widening access interventions on student retention and success in higher education. It thus addresses two contemporary policy concerns: What is the impact of pre‐entry widening access interventions; and how can we improve student retention and success? A review of academic and practitioner literature finds limited research about the impact of pre‐entry interventions in general and very little on the impact of pre‐entry interventions on students' retention and success in higher education. A review of the research, however, identifies the importance of factors which pre‐entry interventions address: pre‐entry decision making, expectations about higher education and academic preparation. To date, however, the impact of pre‐entry interventions on retention in higher education has been largely ignored. Thus pre‐entry activities, such as Aimhigher, should be evaluated for their impact on student retention. The paper offers an outline evaluation framework, including evaluation topics and suggested key performance indicators to bridge this gap.