Implementation of graduation programs for alleviating rural poverty: an impact analysis in Paraguay [Scholarly Article - Journal of Development Effectiveness, December 2022]

Title:

Implementation of graduation programs for alleviating rural poverty: an impact analysis in Paraguay

 

Authors:

Jorge H. Maldonado, John Gomez-Mahecha,Viviana León-Jurado, Laura Villa & Daniel A. Rodríguez 

Published:

Journal of Development Effectiveness, 11 December 2022

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19439342.2022.2153379?src=&journalCode=rjde20

 

Abstract:

Rural poverty in Paraguay led to the implementation of the ‘Sembrando Oportunidades Familia por Familia’ program (SOF), an initiative based on the graduation approach and one of the few government-run implementations of this kind of program. We evaluate the intervention outcomes in poverty. There are positive changes in the participants’ income, productive capacity, savings behavior, and perception of well-being, but discrete consumption effects. These might suggest the need to complement the intervention in rural communities with other targeted interventions. The paper informs the scaling of graduation programs, so they help overcome extreme poverty in this and other developing countries.

 

“I didn’t know what to do, where to go”: The voices of students whose parents were born in Latin America on the need for care in Quebec universities [SCHOLARLY ARTICLE: Canadian Journal of Higher Education, September 2022]

Title:

“I didn’t know what to do, where to go”: The voices of students whose parents were born in Latin America on the need for care in Quebec universities

 

Authors:

Roberta de Oliveira Soares & Marie-Odile Magnan 

Both authors from Université de Montréal

 

Published:

Canadian Journal of Higher Education,  24 September 2022

https://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/article/view/189469

Abstract:

This qualitative study reports the university experiences of Quebec students whose parents were born in Latin America. The analysis, which looks at students who have either persisted in school or discontinued their studies, underscores the importance of cultural capital and, especially, an understanding of the student craft for school retention. The students report a low sense of affiliation with the university, and a perceived lack of support and care from the university and its social actors. Our interpretation of the data highlights self-blame for the challenges faced in university concurrently with the implementation of strategies to meet the challenges of the institution. We conclude by emphasizing how important it is for universities to support students better, adequately inform them about their options and the institution’s inner workings, and form a community with students in a spirit of care.

 

Educational policies in response to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus in Latin America: An integrative documentary review [Scholarly Article - Frontiers in Education, August 2022]

Title:

Educational policies in response to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus in Latin America: An integrative documentary review

 

Authors:

Josefina Amanda Suyo-Vega1*, Monica Elisa Meneses-La-Riva2, Víctor Hugo Fernández-Bedoya3*, Maricela Alarcón-Martínez1, Hitler Giovanni Ocupa-Cabrera1, Sofía Almendra Alvarado-Suyo4, Ana da Costa Polonia5 & Angélica Inês Miotto5 

 

1 School of Education, Universidad César Vallejo, Lima, Peru 

2 School of Nursing, Universidad César Vallejo, Lima, Peru 

3 School of Management, Universidad César Vallejo, Lima, Peru 

4 School of Audiovisual Communication and Interactive Media, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Lima, Peru 

5 School of Education, Centro Universitário Euro-Americano, São Paulo, Brazil

 

Published:

Frontiers in Education, 1 August 2022

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.918220/full

 

Abstract:

Educational policies in the face of the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus took an unexpected turn in Latin America. Virtuality constituted a key opportunity for the continuity of basic fundamental services in the citizen’s right to education. The objective of this research was to analyze the educational public policies adopted by governments in Latin America in the face of the pandemic. The methodology was an integrative documentary review of the main international organizations whose documents provided relevant information on the actions to be implemented in fourteen Latin American countries. The results obtained show that the priority was to reestablish the continuity of educational services using mass communication resources, such as radio, television, digital platforms, making visible the inequity in the access to the Internet at home. It was also identified a deficiency in the competencies and digital resources of the educational community, dis-crimination and inclusion of people with some type of disability or different languages, especially in urban or rural areas because they do not have technological means. It was concluded that the educational policies in Latin America proposed during the COVID-19 period were designed with-out a real situational diagnosis in each country, to meet the demands of urban and rural areas in an equitable manner with the will of governments, providing budgets and resources that benefit the educational community, as an achievement of state policies. 

 

Do you know about the German Institute for Global and Area Studies / Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien?

Organization: 

German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)  

 

From the GIGA website: 

The GIGA is home to the largest non-university information centre for area studies and comparative area studies in Germany. The four regional libraries collect literature on economic, political, and social developments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The collection comprises about 200,000 books and approximately 11,000 online journals – plus more than 120,000 online documents.  

 

For more information: 

https://www.giga-hamburg.de/en 

 

Equity in Latin American Higher Education: Dimensions and Indicators / Equidad en la educación superior latinoamericana: dimensiones e indicadores [Scholarly Article - ess, May 2021]

Title:

Equity in Latin American Higher Education: Dimensions and Indicators

Equidad en la educación superior latinoamericana: dimensiones e indicadores

 

Authors:

Ana García de Fanelli

Senior Research Scholar of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in the Higher Education Department of the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES), Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Senior Professor at the University of Buenos Aires

&

Cecilia Adrogué

Assistant Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Argentina in the Department of Economics of the University of San Andrés

 

Published:

Educatión Superior y Sociedad (ess), Volume 3, Number 1, 1 May 2021

https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/ess/index.php/ess3/article/view/339

 

Abstract:

This paper analyzes equity indicators in higher education in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay during the stages of secondary school completion, access, persistence and graduation from higher education, and advanced human capital formation. Among the findings, note that lower-income sectors’ main barrier to access higher education is the completion of secondary school. Although higher education rates show access gaps according to the socioeconomic level, social inequality is reduced in Argentina and Uruguay when these rates are calculated among secondary school graduates. All three countries reveal higher dropout rates in the lower-income sectors and among first-generation students in Argentina and Uruguay. Low graduation, especially in Uruguay and Argentina, has a negative impact on the proportion of the adult population with complete higher education. The analysis of this indicator by socioeconomic level shows considerable inequity gaps. Finally, the set of indicators examined reveals that women in the three countries outperform men in secondary completion, enrollment, persistence and graduation rates from higher education, and in the proportion of young people with complete higher education.

 

Note:

Article is in Spanish

 

Student movements and politics in Latin America: a historical reconceptualization [Scholarly Article - Higher Education, 4 February 2021]

Title:

Student movements and politics in Latin America: a historical reconceptualization

 

Author:

Imanol Ordorika

Affiliations: 

Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

&

University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Published:

Higher Education, 4 February 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-020-00656-6

Abstract:

Student movements have played a significant political role in the history of Latin America. Since the beginning of the 20th century until now, students have transformed their universities, resisted totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and struggled against US military occupations. In the early 1900s these movements promoted university reforms, autonomy, shared governance, Latin Americanism, and university obligations towards social change. During the 1960s and 1970s, they fought for democratization and committed to attempts for profound radical transformations of society in many countries. In the 1980s student movements resisted structural adjustment policies and attempts to increase tuition. A decade later they continued to defend public universities against privatization and marketization brought about by the neoliberal model. In spite of these historical facts, mainstream literature in the 1980s and 1990s predicted the decline and even death of student movements in the region. A historical reconceptualization of student mobilization is presented in this article in order to fully grasp the impact and sustained presence of student movements in Latin America up to the present day. In this way it is possible to understand the existing links between movements over time and across countries, the continuity and shifts in student discourses, demands and strategies, and the emergence of new struggles for gender equality and to eradicate violence against women.

Research led by University of Cape Town, South Africa - UCT’s Herman Wasserman leads global study on disinformation

Title:

UCT’s Herman Wasserman leads global study on disinformation

 

Author:

Carla Bernardo

 

Published:

University of Cape Town (UCT), 26 January 2021

https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2021-01-26-ucts-herman-wasserman-leads-global-study-on-disinformation

 

From the article:

Professor Herman Wasserman from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Centre for Film and Media Studies (CFMS) will embark on an international study on the information disorder in the Global South, with funds of approximately R4.5 million from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

LATIN AMERICA - Elon Musk Is Bringing Satellite Internet to Latin America [Entrepreneur, 21 January 2021]

Title:

Elon Musk Is Bringing Satellite Internet to Latin America 

 

By:

This story originally appeared on Alto Nivel

This article was translated from our Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

 

Published:

Entrepreneur, 21 January 2021

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/363864

 

From the article:

The Starlink project, developed by Elon Musk, aims to bring satellite internet to Latin America. In fact, on the same day it received a license from the National Communications Agency (Enacom) to begin operations in Argentina. This was determined in the legislation already announced in the official gazette in December 2020.

 

LATIN AMERICA-CARIBBEAN - The pandemic is hindering access and retention in Higher Education by María Elena Hurtado

Title:

The pandemic is hindering access and retention in HE

 

Author:

María Elena Hurtado

Published:

University World News, 21 November 2020

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201121101510828

From the article:

“We still have a long road to travel before having universal access to higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is despite the fact that access has more than doubled in two decades from a gross rate of 23% in 2000 to 53% in 2018.”  

 

This statement by Francesc Pedró, director of the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, was the parting shot of the conference “Inequalities in Access to Higher Education by Disadvantaged Populations in the Latin American and Caribbean Region in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic”.

See also:

Access of the most disadvantaged to higher education is a challenge to face in Latin America and the Caribbean

 

Published:

IESALC, UNESCO, 19 November 2020

https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/en/2020/11/19/access-of-the-most-disadvantaged-to-higher-education-is-a-challenge-to-face-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/

Latin American university leaders tell THE summit that countries will need skills of non-science graduates as they recover from coronavirus

Title:
Demand for arts and humanities ‘will increase post-pandemic’

Author:
Ellie Bothwell

Published:
Times Higher Education, 8 July 2020
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/demand-arts-and-humanities-will-increase-post-pandemic

From the article:
Speaking at the Times Higher Education virtual Latin America Universities Summit, Professor Garza said there were three key trends that could lead to a rising demand for these non-science fields.

Medical Xpress, 22 May 2020 - Uruguay and Costa Rica: beacons of Latin American virus success

Title:
Uruguay and Costa Rica: beacons of Latin American virus success

Published:
Medical Xpress, 22 May 2020
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-uruguay-costa-rica-beacons-latin.html

From the article:
"In Latin America, a region experiencing ever-increasing growth in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths, Uruguay and Costa Rica stand out as success stories.

Despite never declaring a general lockdown, Uruguay had recorded 749 cases and 20 deaths by Thursday among a population of 3.4 million.  

In Costa Rica there have been just 903 cases and 10 deaths in a country of five million."

Scholarly Article (2020) - Leadership in the Time of COVID-19: Reflections of Latin American Higher Education Leaders

Title:
Leadership in the Time of COVID-19: Reflections of Latin American Higher Education Leaders

Author:
Daniel Samoilovich

Published:
International Higher Education, Number 102, Special Issue 2020
https://www.internationalhighereducation.net/en/handbuch/gliederung/#/Beitragsdetailansicht/811/2920/Leadership-in-the-Time-of-COVID-19%253A-Reflections-of-Latin-American-Higher-Education-Leaders

Abstract:
To navigate the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, university leaders should consider its structural impact on teaching and learning, research and innovation, decision-making structures, and on their own role in providing the academic community with a strong vision. As Shakespeare wrote in As You Like It, “Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”

Scholarly Article (March 2020) - Impact of Positive Personal Traits on University Student Engagement in Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador (by Durón-Ramos, M.F. [et al.])

Title:
Impact of Positive Personal Traits on University Student Engagement in Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador

Authors:
Maria Fernanda Durón-Ramos, Pedro Alexis Mojica-Gómez, Katherine Villamizar-Gomez & Edgardo René Chacón-Andrade

From the article:
"A large number of determinants influence the academic engagement of university students. However, positive influences that can be encouraged by the university have not been thoroughly studied. Most psychological research has been conducted in developed countries. Given the importance of understanding and encouraging university students in Latin America, it is essential to increase the quantity of research focused on personal traits and their association with better performance by university students. Two positive traits that have been shown to improve performance in a variety of areas are emotional intelligence and orientation to happiness. However, little is known about the relationship between these two positive aspects and university student engagement. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of emotional intelligence and orientation to happiness on university student engagement in three Latin American countries: Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador."

Citation:
Durón-Ramos, M.F. [et al.]. (4 March 2020). Impact of Positive Personal Traits on University Student Engagement in Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador. Frontiers in Education, 5. Available: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.00012/full

Scholarly Article (February 2020) - Autonomy and weak governments: challenges to university quality in Latin America

Title:
Autonomy and weak governments: challenges to university quality in Latin America

Author:
Pilar Mendoza

Published:
Higher Education, volume 79, February 2020
Available: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-020-00511-8

From the abstract:
"Applying grounded theory to 33 expert interviews about the underperformance of higher education in Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Mexico, this study indicated that the historical tradition of autonomy has fostered weak government control, revealing a host of issues common across these countries in their higher education system."

An EQAF Paper (December 2019): An Independence Index of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education: European and Latin American countries compared

Title:
An Independence Index of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education: European and Latin American countries compared

Authors:
Jacint Jordana, Ana García Juanatey & Ixchel Pérez Durán

Abstract:
"This contribution presents an assessment of the de jure independence of Quality Assurance Agencies (QAAs) operating at the national level in the field of higher education and which are public in nature (or are commissioned by public authorities). Considering more than 40 countries in Europe and Latin America, we present a multidimensional index based on formal statements derived from agencies’ constitutive norms and regulations. This de jure index includes three clusters: the first one takes into account the agency relation with political principals, measuring the provisions for shielding agency head and board members, and how accountable are agencies to the executive; the second one focuses on the social accountability dimension that agencies present; and the third one approaches the scope of responsibilities the agency is granted. The paper discusses the methodology employed for the elaboration of QAAs’ independence index, as inspired by previous indexes prepared for the measurement of independence in regulatory agencies operating in fields such finance, utilities or social risks. The aim of the new index is to integrate an assessment of the level autonomy of QAAs versus politicians, their accountability mechanisms to societal actors and their decision-making powers to provide a comprehensive measure of formal capabilities of agencies to act independently. Such an analysis will allow a better understanding of the role that these agencies have in higher education policy regimes across Latin America and Europe."

To read/download this paper:
https://eua.eu/resources/publications/905:an-independence-index-of-quality-assurance-agencies-in-higher-education-european-and-latin-american-countries-compared.html