The Congress of the Republic approved by insistence the creation of 22 new national universities in various regions of the country, despite the observations of the Executive Power and the rejection of former education ministers and experts in public policy.
As if that were not enough, what parliamentarians are not counted, is the time that could take and put a new institution of higher education. In addition to all the problems that this measure would entail for young people in the future.
Experts speak
The former Minister of Education, Daniel Alfaro, described approval as an “insistence of the error.” Alfaro recognized the limited educational offer in the country, but pointed out that the creation of universities is not the best option to close that gap. According to the former minister, the strengthening of the institutes and the creation of existing universities subsidiaries had to be prioritized. He warned that the new law will absorb resources that could be allocated to more optimal solutions and that, instead of improving access, it is legislating irresponsibly about the future of Peruvian young people.
The National Dean of the College of Engineers of Peru (CIP), Jaime Ruiz Béjar, criticized the lack of a previous demographic study for the creation of these institutions. He said that a university is not created by a simple “non -logical criteria” based on the political convenience of a congressman. Ruiz Béjar stressed that a quality university takes between 15 and 20 years to consolidate and that the lack of good training is reflected in structural failures in society, such as bridges or roofs that fall.
In addition, the Dean warned of high administrative costs. He mentioned that spending on authorities (rector and vice -rector) can amount to one million soles per year per university, which, for the 22 new institutions, would represent an expense of more than 20 million soles per year only in bureaucracy.
The former Minister of Education, Marilú Martens, said that congressmen are “manufacturing expectations” that they will not be able to meet, which will result in the creation of “empty feathers.” Martens stressed that a university is much more than a building; They are teachers with degrees, equipped laboratories, research and links with the productive sector.
In that sense, he described the law as a populist measure that does not contribute to the development of the country and demanded that a rigorous licensing of each of these universities be guaranteed before operating, demonstrating that they have the basic quality conditions. Martens questioned the viability of the law, especially when a Minedu report estimates that the basic operation of a university without laboratories costs around 105 million soles, which would imply an expense of 2,310 million soles for the 22 universities.
Jorge Mori, director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis in Higher Education (Cappes), said that the creation of these 22 universities raises the total number of public institutions to 89, which represents a “very bad news for the public university” by the level of atomization. Mori warned that there are no resources to provide quality education to such a dispersed system, and that these new universities would cost three times more for a student than a public university already licensed.
Mori concluded that he is playing with the expectations of young people, since these universities will not be able to get teachers, resources for serious research, and unfortunately, experience shows that district universities never grow up, since young people continue to prefer to go to region capitals for a better quality.
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