As a graduate of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), the current Minister of University Education, Sandra Oblitas, will be voting in the elections that take place this Friday in that house of studies to renew the authorities that have been in the rectory since May 2008. That period of the rectory team headed by Cecilia García Arocha concluded in May 2012. “I am a graduate of the Sociology School,” said the minister during a telephone interview with Last News.
—Minister, are you going to vote in the elections that are taking place today at the UCV?
—Each and all graduates have the right to attend to vote.
—What are the expectations that the Minister of Higher Education has of these elections?
—The great expectation at this time is being met in the sense that the UCV is getting right in a good way, it is assuming a default that it has had for years. Getting straight in that sense I think it is the gigantic step that is being taken that is very important and that it comes to give a good face to the university.
—These elections come after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice issued some guidelines to broaden the field of the electorate. Are these guidelines being met in these elections?
—There is an opinion and an electoral process is being carried out, but I think that the great news, the great celebration, the great satisfaction is that the elections are actually taking place and that in some way the UCV is being put in order with what It is the constitutional channel. And from now on I have no doubt that progress will continue on that path.
—Minister entering another point, what is the National Income System?
—The National Admission System is a platform, a tool that the Bolivarian Government makes available to young people who are graduating from high school this month of July so that they can apply where they reflect their aspiration for university studies.
—How many high school graduates are you waiting for to incorporate them into the university world?
—We are expecting, as reported by the Ministry of Education, some 336,165 high school graduates who must graduate this month of July.
—Will all those 336,165 graduates be admitted to university education?
—We have the capacity to house, to welcome, to assign a study opportunity for each and every one of our high school graduates who graduate in July. In other words, full inclusion in the university system is the capacity that we have defined.
—Then the bachelor-aspirant must enter the platform of the National Income System.
-Exactly. But before entering that platform, we recommend that you enter what we call the Book of Opportunities for University Studies: loe.gob.ve. There the student can verify the immense range of career opportunities offered by the Venezuelan university. We have a set of careers that we have called prioritized. They are needs that the Republic has for which we need to train professionals in those areas.
– What are those careers prioritized by the State?
—As President Nicolás Maduro mentioned last Monday, by areas of knowledge, in the field of health, for example, we have medicine, comprehensive community medicine, nursing, physiatry, dentistry, cardiology, cytotechnology, nutrition, pharmacy, bioanalysis. Those are prioritized in health sciences.
-Other areas?
—In the area of education, all education both for the initial, basic, comprehensive, as well as for the average and technical average. Likewise, those in the area of engineering (maintenance, mechanics, metallurgy, oil, materials, chemistry, industry, electronics, environment, natural resources, health resources), computing and informatics.
—In case the student has connection problems to access the platform of the National Income System, what should that bachelor do?
—You have until July 14 to make your entry and you can do it from any technological device. You have a chance of six opportunities to opt for careers: three compulsory and three optional. If there are difficulties you can call 0800-OPSUPNI.
—When will the quota allocations be published?
—It is foreseen in the schedule for the month of August. They will all be assigned. Before it was the privilege of a few, it was not considered a fundamental human right. Before there were high school graduates without quota. That’s where we come from.
Salary issue
- “We are working with the guidelines of the Executive in order to guarantee the recognition of the rights as it corresponds to all the workers of the country.”
- “Those tables that are being held at the Ministry of Labor are permanently active. The Executive has always been aware of guaranteeing all the rights of workers and the university sector does not escape this”.
- “There are other careers that we are giving priority to, such as those that cover the basic sciences: physics, mathematics, geology, chemistry, biology, geochemistry. They are transversal races to all our productive engines”.
- “We are also prioritizing those careers that contribute to our food sovereignty and are linked to agri-food engines: tourism, fishing engineering, agricultural engineering.”
