Trips for study purposes have continued to grow in recent months thanks to the economic and social reopening due to the decrease in cases of covid-19 infections.
(Read: Colombia, the country with the most Latino students enrolled in Australia).
Thus, the figures of the internationalization of students continue to rise, and it opens up expectations about their interests in starting, continuing or finishing their studies abroad.
According to Migración Colombia, the monthly behavior of trips for study reasons so far in 2022, indicates that as of July, they have left the country a total of 63,140 students.
According to the entity, January was the month with the most departures presenting 11,671 trips, while February presented the lowest figure, reaching 5,888 trips abroad.
The population group with the most departures from the country by age and gender are those citizens between the ages of 18 and 29, where 19,745 of the departures correspond to women, while in the case of men, there were 16,867.
Likewise, other age ranges with the greatest scope are the population between 30 and 39 years old, of which 6,781 of the trips correspond to the female gender, contrary to the male gender, which presented 7,577.
The upward trend in the interest and materialization of studies abroad has also been reflected in Colfuturo. This entity, which, with the support of the Government, Minciencias, Icetex, and corporate donations, has financed the master’s degrees and doctorates of 12,893 Colombians in their history they have represented the country in more than 800 universities.
According to data from Colfuturo, so far in 2022, they have been selected for the ‘Scholarship Credit’ program, 1,534 Colombian professionals, marking a historical figure for the institution.
Among other data, for 2021, fu1,357 professionals were selected to study abroad, as well as for 2020, where the scholarships went to 1,311 students, crucial years in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.
Likewise, of the total number of students for this year, according to Colfuturo, 1,341 of the selected students opted for a scholarship for a master’s degree, while the remaining 193 aspired to doctorate programs.
For the institution, the areas of study in which the scholarships were awarded correspond to engineering, with 295 assigned; administration with 190 registrations, while in the case of social sciences there were 161.
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Among other programs in which the scholarships were distributed, is the law with 131 students and agricultural sciences, where they were awarded to 122 people.
Among other areas to highlight are the basic sciences, with 112 assigned, the same figure for the health sciences. On the other hand, in what corresponds to education programs, 107 people were registered in this area, while for architecture, scholarships correspond to 101 students.
between races with fewer cases are arts with 87 scholarships; political science with 83 cases. The area of economics occupies the last place with 33 scholarship holders.
As far as financial support is concerned, Colfuturo assures that it will remain the country’s leader in financing postgraduate studies abroadand in the same way it indicates that for the 1,534 selected professionals, US$63.8 million have been used in support of scholarships, providing support to the selected students.
Among other figures indicated by the entity, it is concluded that 58% of its scholarship holders belong to strata 3 and 4. Likewise, they assure that 41% of the students belong to the population aged between 26 and 29 years.
Compared to the ‘top 10’ of the regions from which the students come, the institution’s data indicates that the highest percentage has Bogota with 45%while Antioquia follows with 11% and Valle is in third place with 8%, while Santander occupies fourth position with 7%.
The fifth position is held by Atlántico with 4%, followed by Boyacá with 3%. In the case of Bolívar, Caldas, Tolima and Cundinamarca, the result presented was 2% for each of the departments.
According to Colfuturo, the main universities of origin are broken down into the Universidad de los Andes with 268 professionalsthe National University of Colombia with 203 graduates and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana with 173 graduates.
The Universidad del Rosario, presented 68 students and the Universidad del Norte with 55.
Among the preferred destinations for this edition of the ‘Crédito Beca’ program and in which more students were enrolled to carry out their postgraduate studies are the United States with 311 enrolled; United Kingdom with 302 holders and Spain with 163 scholarship recipients. For its part, Germany has 131 students, France with 117 and Australia with 115.
For Colfuturo, as with the data from Migración Colombia, the female sex leads the intentions to study abroad. Specifically, 54% of the students are women, while 46% are men.
The OECD assured in a forecast on education, that by 2025 the number of students abroad worldwide reaches 8 million people.
Diana K. Rodriguez T.
