Colegios Universitarios in Argentina
and Their Expected Impact on
Access and Attainment of
Non-Traditional Students
Mariana Alfonso
PhD Candidate, Economics and Education
Research Assistant, Community College Research Center
Teachers College, Columbia University
Comparative and International Education Society Conference
New Orleans - March 13, 2003
www.tc.columbia.edu/ccrc
Overview
1. The higher education system in
Argentina
2. What are colegios universitarios?
3. Characteristics of expected
colegios universitarios’ students
4. Expected outcomes
v Access
v Attainment
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Higher Education in Argentina
Two “independent” tiers:
1. Universities = 76% of all PSE students
Public (36 institutions, 947k students)
v Depend financially & legally from federal government, but
autonomous entities
v Tuition-free and open-access institutions, with admission
policies sometimes set at faculty (school) level
⇒ “universidad pública, libre y gratuita”
Private not-for-profit (42 institutions, 166k students)
v Legally dependent on federal government ⇒ accreditation
v Receive no subsidies
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2. Terciarios = 24% of all PSE students
v 1785 institutions, 391k students
v Magisterios (teacher colleges) or technical-vocational schools
v Private (charge tuition) or public (tuition-free), but legally
dependent on provincial jurisdictions
v Studies last between 2 and 3.5 years
Professional specialization at undergraduate level
v Aspiring students enroll at the school that offers major of
choice ⇒ no general education curriculum
v Most schools and universities work as independent entities
v Advantage: produces professional graduates
v Disadvantages: students take longer to complete, low
graduation rates, almost no articulation between fields of study
and between institutions
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Research Question
Are colegios universitarios (CUs)
expected to increase equity in access
and attainment of traditionally
underserved students?
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What are Colegios Universitarios?
Tertiary non-university institutions characterized by
v Innovative model for institutional management & curricula
v Participation of province, municipality, university and local
productive sector in CU’s institutional life
v Strong link with local development → degrees in technical
fields, professional development programs, and specific job
training
v Curricular articulation with universities → transfer function
⇒ Different from existing tertiary institutions (terciarios)
in their career articulation with universities
⇒ Creation of CUs mostly through transformation of
existing terciarios
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History of Colegios Universitarios
v Sponsored by Ministry of Education in January 2001
through “Proyecto Colegios Universitarios”
v Legal benchmark given by Higher Education Act of
1995 (article 22) ⇒ a colegio universitario exists only
when a (recently created or transformed) tertiary
institution has an articulation agreement with at least one
university
v Similar project, less focused on articulation with
universities and more focused on links with local
business, sponsored by Ministry of Education in 1997-98
but discontinued in 1999
v Lobby favoring their introduction since 1960s
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Goals of Colegios Universitarios
v Increase equality of opportunities for students with
difficulties in accessing and persisting at the
traditional higher education level
⇒ important for our analysis of historically
underserved students
v Train technicians at the regional level
v Provide qualified personnel for absorption,
development and transference of new technologies
⇒ to foster local development
v Generate center of irradiación cultural
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Missions of Colegios Universitarios
vVocational mission: short-term vocational degrees,
professional training programs, and labor skills
certification courses
vAcademic mission: general “basic” transferable
education
vCompensatory mission: adult basic education
vCommunity Service mission: consulting services,
technical assistance and promotion of enterprises
for development of local productive sector; other
community services (ie., cultural events,
production of inputs)
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Colegios Universitarios’
Expected Students
Colegios universitarios to be created mostly through
establishment of articulation agreement between existing
terciario and universities ⇒ CUs student population will
likely resemble terciarios’ student body
Terciarios’ student body (Delfino, 1998):
v Older than their university counterparts ⇒ more than half
of all students are 22 years old or older
v Most likely to work while enrolled
v Come from low SES background ⇒ 40% of their parents
have only primary education
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Also, the “target” population of colegios universitarios is:
v (young) high school graduates who had not planned to
enroll in higher education
v (young) students who had to dropout from universities due
to incompatibility with full-time work, deficiencies in high
school preparation, lack of adaptation into university life
v (young) high school graduates with university degree as
goal but who need intermediate degree for entering into labor
market
v adults in need of acquiring new skills for reinserting
themselves into labor market, or for upgrading their skills
⇒ Colegios universitarios’ student body will be mostly
non-traditional, academically unprepared, at-the-margin
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What Can Be Expected In Terms of
Equity in Access?
v CUs expected student body: non-traditional,
academically unprepared, low SES, at-the-margin ⇒ role
of CUs in increasing equity in access to higher education
seems possible, but…
v Public university already relatively “democratic”
institution (open access and tuition-free)
⇒ will CUs ensure the expansion of equality of
opportunities? Not necessarily: most tertiary institutions
being transformed into CUs are private
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What Can Be Expected In Terms of
Equity in Attainment?
v Terciarios’ students less likely to dropout than
university peers (Delfino, 1998) ⇒ increased equity in
attainment seems possible, but…
v Transferability of courses between CUs and
universities difficult under specialized system of higher
education ⇒ increased attainment of university degrees
by traditionally underserved populations uncertain
v U.S. evidence: CCs non-traditional, academically
challenged, at-the-margin students less likely to complete
degrees, to transfer and to complete a BA
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Conclusions
vRole of colegios universitarios in expanding access and
attainment uncertain ⇒ depends on which terciarios get
transformed into CUs and how articulation agreements
are developed
vIf private terciarios become the majority of CUs, they
may not provide increased equality of opportunities
than an open access, tuition-free public university
vArticulation difficult under current system of
professional education which lacks a general curriculum
⇒ major reform of higher education system needed
vPlacement of CU graduates hard under current
economic crisis
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