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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2006 
OECD Shines Light on Academics
 Nurit Martínez - El Universal
| | Mexican university students studying in an 400 year old library. |
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) presented a long list of suggestions this week to help Mexico improve its higher education - topping the list were quotas for public universities and more private investment in scientific research.
José Ángel Gurría, secretary- general of the OECD and formerly a top Mexican finance official, presented a report titled "Topical Analysis of Higher Education in Mexico" this week.
He called on the government to improve transparency in universities, force private universities to comply with minimum academic standards and implement quality certification systems.
He added that Mexico faces "enormous challenges" it its coverage and quality of higher education.
To face these challenges the report also recommends that education authorities find a way to improve students´ opportunities to continue studying, create a scholarship system for underprivileged students, open higher education to indigenous groups and decentralize the university system and open it up to private investment.
Mexico is ranked 22 in opportunities in higher education out of the 30 nations belonging to the OECD. The report concludes that only 44 percent of young people from 15 to 19 have access to higher education. The OECD average is 79 percent.
Gurría added that Mexico must revamp its payment system - in which public universities are heavily subsidized.
"We have to discuss how we divide the costs," Gurría said at the presentation of the report on Tuesday Nov. 28.
"We are dealing with students who can pay more for their education, and, at the same time, the state should make sure to offer support to students who have the ability but lack the resources."
He added that "those who can´t pay shouldn´t be excluded." The report was presented in the offices of the Public Education Secretariat, before education officials and the heads of the nation´s public universities.
Josefina Vázquez Mota, who had just been named to take over the Education Secretariat next week, was also present. |
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