Promoting Colombian talent to the world has been Colfuturo’s mission for more than three decades. However, In 2025, the organization faces significant financial challenges that could impact the number of students selected to pursue postgraduate degrees abroad. because cooperation with the Government is in suspense.
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Jerónimo Castro, director of Colfuturo, analyzed the current panorama of the call that opened on January 10 and that could go from benefiting more than 2,000 professionals to only 1,000, due to the uncertainty about the renewal of government support. In this interview, Castro shared the challenges and perspectives of the organization at a key moment for its future.
How has Colfuturo been working?
Colfuturo maintains its work in making a selection each year of the best Colombian professionals who are going to do their master’s and doctoral studies in the best programs in the world. That continues to be our course, our line of work.
(See more: Icetex closes financing call for the first half of 2025)
They announced registrations, what dynamics do you see?
We open the call on January 10 and it will be open until the last day of February. Last year we had nearly 5,000 candidates and selected 2,028. This 2025 we estimate a figure close to 6,000 registrations, but we still do not know very well how many people we can select.
Why don’t they know how many are going to be selected?
We have several uncertainties regarding cooperation with the Government and depending on that we will be able to select a number, which will not be as large as last year. We hope that we can select over 1,000 people.
The program depends on cooperation with the Government, which contributes a very important part that is intended as a scholarship. Without this capacity for resources, which we do not know until now if they will be available, the selection of students is substantially reduced.
We want to be sure that these resources will be available, and this is the last year of a cooperation of almost 20 years, and we have not been able to renew it. It seems that we are not going to have those resources and that Colfuturo has to rethink itself to continue operating alone.
(Read also: Colfuturo opens call for applications in 2025 to study postgraduate studies abroad)
Colfuturo
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What do they allocate for the program?
We always allocate all available resources, that is why we try to go to the maximum. Today everything depends on ensuring that they are received this year, because we need to know whether or not we can renew the cooperation for another 10 years with the National Government. But time has passed and we have not had a response.
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If the Government does not manage the resources, what plans do they have?
If the Government is not there, we must substantially reduce the number of people we select. Now the resources come from the portfolio that we recovered from previous students, from the donations we received, but the last one was in 2009.
We are looking to see if this year we can have new donations or services that Colfuturo sells to other entities to use the knowledge and the platform. That’s what defines it alone, but the scale has to be much smaller, unfortunately.
What does it mean for Colombia to reduce the selections?
What happens in our contemporary world is that deep knowledge is required. The structuring of large projects requires very well-trained people. In some way, maintain a flow of capable people who are going to train in places where things are happening that are only happening there.
A second point is that when people go to study they generate connections in a world that is interconnected and hypercomplex. All of this benefits Colombia because solutions or business opportunities for trade, cultural exchange, etc. can be found.
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How is the demand for professions?
The demand is very interesting because it is very distributed. Most are engineering people, especially computing and data sciences. There are also mechanical and civil ones, but to a lesser extent. Colfuturo is one of the only entities that supports topics in design, architecture and innovation in other areas. We have people in social sciences or arts, where there is cinema, photography, plastic arts, music, etc.
(Read: More than 25,000 Colombians reached agreements with Icetex to catch up)
What countries are appearing?
Last year most people wanted to go to the United Kingdom, a country that has a very good educational system and one-year master’s degrees, so it is easier for people to finance it. The United States still has a very strong system, but it is much more expensive.
Australia has grown because it is a destination that people are very interested in, and it has very strong public universities. They are not top, but they are among the 100 best in the world. There are also others that are interested in Continental Europe, such as Germany, France or Spain, which have very good programs and are attractive for Colombian students.
(See more: Second exam date drove an increase in the presentation of state tests)
What is taken into account when choosing a student?
There are four criteria: the undergraduate average, the grade we give it, the program and a writing. For example, we compare programs and give you a rating that is top in the world and whether it is in your area or not. Also, we have an adjustment factor that allows us to reward those who had meritorious theses or if after graduating they obtained a prize and also an excellent Saber Pro.
And the last criterion is a piece of writing, which weighs little, but is the combination of the four qualifications that organizes the candidates from the strongest to the weakest. It should be noted that there is a cut-off line where the money ends, which allows us to publish the results for each person, being a totally transparent selection and far from influences or recommendations.
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How does the return of students work?
More or less 70% of students return to Colombia historically, this varies from one year to the next and also according to the opportunities that exist outside. To obtain the scholarship, people have to complete 36 months in Colombia, in a period of 72 months. What does that mean? that after studying, these people can stay outside to work for up to three years.
(Read also: They call on the Government to address the crisis that the education sector is going through)
What expectations do you have for 2025?
Colfuturo in the last 20 years has been growing the number of people selected. The young people are very interested, knowing that Colfuturo has been very consistent and is there to support them. We have signed more than 140 agreements with universities that give them scholarship benefits.
The main expectation is how to find a way, which is difficult because it is a large program, to not lose that scale that Colfuturo reached, so that young people who have the plan to go to study this year and in the years to come are not left hanging. that come That is the challenge, that is the expectation.
