Higher Education in Latin America

• The three main issues facing Latin America are corruption, insecurity, and educational deficiencies.
• There is an increasing demand for institutions in the region that are in touch with the environment, creative, and advanced.
• Universities must seek to relate the knowledge they are teaching to reality.
• The vision for higher education in Latin America includes collaborative work, independent learning, experiential immersion, and a critical approach. It will be interdisciplinary with a focus on human beings.
• The number of students in the region graduating from higher education programs, doubled between 2000 and 2013, from 21% to 43%.
• The higher education sector in Latin America is a growth industry. A quarter of the institutions in this region were started between 2000 and 2013.
• There are three key characteristics of Latin Americans that fall into the typical student demographic regarding online technology, social media trumps email, digital consumers are open to targeted advertisements, and site navigation is a strong motivator.
• A range of different opportunities are emerging in respect of online education in Latin America.
• There has been a suggestion that institutions offering higher education in Latin America are not adequately preparing students to enter the workforce.
• The motivations for students entering higher education, at an undergraduate level, in Latin America are (in order of importance), to gain a higher level qualification, personal interest, progress current career path, opportunity for exchange, and improve employment prospects.
• At a post-graduate level, the motivations are (in order of importance), to gain a higher level qualification, progress career path, improve employment prospects, personal interest, and opportunity for exchange.

Summary

• There is very little available information of the consumer journey of the Latina American student.