An integrated vision for higher education

With little international recognition, Colombia has been more engaged with international trends in higher education than just about any other country in Latin America. In fact, Colombia seems to be the only country in Latin America that has developed and sustained a coherent national policy for the development of higher education for several decades, taking into consideration the major issues confronting all countries today, writes Liz Reisberg for Inside Higher Ed.

Of course the rest of the region is grappling with these issues as well, but national policy elsewhere is too often bogged down by competing political agendas that lead to dramatic policy shifts and fluctuating political priorities. No other country in the region seems to be integrating so many initiatives into a national vision for higher education. While Colombia’s many initiatives are far from perfect, they continue to evolve.

Colombia was one of the first countries in Latin America to develop a national system to evaluate the quality of higher education and to require tertiary institutions to develop mechanisms for self-monitoring, be more transparent, and more accountable.
Full report on the Inside Higher Ed site