At a Crossroads: Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

In this study, authors investigate three important aspects of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean: quality, variety, and equity. A good higher education system offers quality, variety, and equity to maximize students’ potential given their innate ability, interests, motivation, and academic readiness at the end of high school. Since people differ in these aspects, and the economy needs various types of skills, a variety of offerings allows students to find their best match. A good higher education system trains engineers as well as technicians, economists as well as administrative assistants. In addition, a good higher education system offers quality programs that maximize students’ potential, given their best match. Since the mere availability of variety and quality does not guarantee students’ access to or success in them, a higher education system displays equity when students have access to equal opportunities. Chapter one describes the recent higher education expansion. It documents the magnitude of the expansion, describes the ‘new’ students, and examines patterns of higher education spending in the region relative to other regions. It examines a variety of private returns to higher education and provides evidence regarding public returns. Chapter two presents equity, quality, and variety indicators in higher education. It describes the recent equity gains, presents evidence regarding to quality, and documents the variety of programs and HEIs in the region. Chapter three focuses on wage-based returns to higher education, both complete and incomplete. It documents returns’ recent average decline and their heterogeneity among fields and HEIs. Chapter four examines the demand-side drivers of the recent expansion. It studies the admission and funding mechanisms in the region, and explores student sorting across programs and HEIs and HEIs’ changes throughout the expansion. It also studies the unintended consequences of funding mechanisms. Chapter five examines the supply-side drivers of the expansion. It documents the supply-side growth in the region and studies the opening of new programs and the competitive strategies used by various HEI types. Chapter six provides a summary of institutional arrangements related to current higher education policy in the region. Chapter seven concludes with policy implications from the analysis conducted in the report.