Capital: Bogotá

Population: 53 million (2024)

Youth population: 17% of the population is aged 15–24

Median age: 32.7

GDP: US$386 billion (2024)

Currency: Colombian peso (COP)

Language: Spanish

Main language of instruction: Spanish in public schools and universities, though some Colombian universities offer courses taught in English.

English proficiency: “Low” .

Religion: Christian, predominantly Roman Catholic.

Geography: Colombia is in northwestern South America, bordered by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and by the countries of Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, and Panama.

Academic year: February to November, with some local variations.

Outbound students: At least 75,000 in higher education, with tens of thousands abroad for English-language studies as well.

Top fields of study for Colombians looking at study abroad: According to the , Colombian students are drawn to programmes in business administration, management, finance, banking, marketing, and engineering.

Along with Brazil, Colombia is a South American outbound student market that is firmly on the radar of many recruiters going into 2025. It has been sending ever-greater numbers of students abroad for all levels of study, from higher education to vocational training, and from K-12 to English-language studies.

There are about 20,000 Colombians studying in Argentina and 18,000 in Spain. Last year, there were some rumblings that Argentina would lose most, if not all, its Colombian students because of a government proposal to end free tuition for international students. This proposal was voted down in February 2024.

English-language destinations have seen tremendous growth from Colombia: Canadian institutions (colleges, universities, schools, and English-language programmes lasting six months or more) hosted 15,200 Colombian students in 2023 (+23% y-o-y), while US colleges and universities hosted 9,100 (+13%).

Australia saw 39,720 Colombians on study visas in 2023 (+43% y-o-y). The majority (73%) were enrolled in English-language programmes (ELICOS). France and Germany each host about 4,000 Colombian students in higher education institutions.

Levels of study

While Australia’s stream of Colombian students flows mostly to ELICOS programmes, the vocational sector (VET) is also popular – as shown in the chart below. A fascinating bit of research from several years ago demonstrated the great extent to which the ELICOS sector fuels the health of other sectors in Australia over time. Colombian students have generally low English-language proficiency and so it bodes well for all Australian universities and VET providers that so many of them are enrolling in language courses and thus preparing themselves for success in further studies.

Colombian students are well distributed across the Canadian education landscape, and as illustrated in the following chart from , college courses are the main draw. However, Canadian colleges could lose some traction in the market now that the partners of international college students are no longer eligible for a work visa.

In the US, Colombian students are well represented at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as shown below in IIE Open Doors data for 2022/23. Overall, Colombia was one of the fastest growing higher education markets for the US that year (+12.6%), exceeding growth from the top South American market, Brazil (+7.6%). There are also close to 3,000 Colombian students in (IEPs), and Colombia is the 9th largest source of students for that sector.

Key considerations when recruiting in Colombia

1. There is clearly great potential for outbound student flows to expand further in Colombia. Foreign education credentials continue to be a huge advantage in a country where the unemployment rate is relatively high (around 10%, compared with Argentina’s 7.5% and Brazil’s 8%). As the US Trade Administration notes about Colombia, “it is difficult to obtain a high-level position within the government or an important national or multinational company without proficient English skills and/or a graduate degree … Moreover, a degree from a U.S. university can serve to make job applicants that much more competitive in the Colombian workplace.”

There is another, very unfortunate reason that the demand for study abroad in Colombia is especially high right now. The security situation in the country has once again deteriorated after a few years of respite. Not only are thousands of Colombians fleeing their country, but Colombia is also home to “the third largest population of refugees and other people in need of international protection worldwide,” . Many of those refugees are from Venezuela.

2. Low English-language proficiency is a serious issue affecting the ability of Colombian students to be eligible for, or to study successfully in, English-taught higher education programmes abroad. Younger Colombians are especially likely to be challenged in this way: the EF English-language Index puts 18-20-year-old Colombians in the “very low” category.

Savvy institutions and governments are addressing Colombians’ generally low English fluency through initiatives designed to help them gain proficiency and/or translate marketing and communications into Spanish. For example, the US Embassy in Bogota has launched technology projects such as and offers small scholarships for English-language studies.

Similarly, Austrade launched the Study Experience Platform in Spanish and Portuguese for Latin American students in 2022, and has been crucial to driving interest among Colombians and Brazilians in pursuing studies in Australia. Study Experience offers virtual events such as webinars, masterclasses, and live chats and offers Latin American students the ability to:

• “Watch weekly videos from real students in Australia.
• Find out about exclusive scholarships.
• Join live events every week.
• Receive exciting news from the Australian government firsthand.”

Within a few months of its launch date, the Study Experience platform had already achieved remarkable success. As reported by Mirage News in April 2022 (three months post-launch):

• “1 million people have viewed Australian education messaging due to a regional PR campaign.
• More than 193,0000 visitors have interacted with the platform with over 22,000 registered users.
• Over 1000 qualified leads have been provided to clients, with at least one Confirmation of Enrolment issued.
• 5853 people participated in 16 online events.”

ApplyBoard emphasises the importance of English-language assistance for those recruiting in Colombia by offering this advice:

“First and foremost for institutions looking to build their Colombian enrollment, we recommend offering more integrated English learning programs with curriculum. Providing more language pathway resources is crucial to meeting the needs of these students. And because the age-related proficiency gap exists throughout Latin America, investments toward bolstering these resources will help students from a multitude of source countries.”

3. Financial challenges are a significant barrier for many prospective Colombian students. Colombia is among the least equal societies in the world in terms of income distribution. While students attending private bilingual schools may not need financial assistance, many other students will. About 36% of the population falls below the poverty line, and .

Even a little financial assistance can go a long way. For example, EducationUSA offers “” for “highly qualified students who are likely to be awarded full financial support from accredited U.S. universities but who do not have the financial resources to cover the up-front costs related to applying and obtaining admission.”

The model is fascinating: “Over the course of approximately one year, selected students work closely with an EducationUSA adviser and with the cohort of other Opportunity Fund students to prepare and submit applications to up to eight U.S. universities where they have a strong chance of receiving a full scholarship from the university to cover tuition and living expenses.”

The Opportunity Fund serves several purposes: (1) it helps bright, but relatively poor, Colombian students to gain admission to top US universities, (2) it helps US universities to recruit students with the best chance of success, and (3) it helps the US as a whole to attract the kind of international students who are most likely to enrichen the US economy if they immigrate after completing their studies.

Institutions that do not factor in the financial constraints of many Colombian students stand to lose a significant segment of the potential market. When Colombian students were asked why they were refused a Canadian study permit in 2021/22, 36% said that it was partly due to insufficient finances.

ApplyBoard notes:

“While this percentage does not seem high, it’s important to keep in mind that students who know or believe they don’t have the financial resources to study abroad will often defer applying. As a result, this refusal percentage does not fully represent the price sensitivity of prospective students, particularly for a country experiencing currency devaluation like Colombia.”

4. Dual degrees and academic collaborations are in demand. Germany, for example, has nearly active 280 higher education cooperation projects with Colombia, whether through researcher exchanges or through . Canada has also become more interested in partnering through exchanges, internships, scholarships, and research collaborations.

In Colombia, there are main two scholarship organisations: the Colombian Institute for Educational Loans and Technical Studies Abroad (ICETEX) and COLFUTURO. ICETEX’s model is providing funding for students at the undergraduate or graduate levels – either in Colombia or abroad, while COLFUTURO is totally dedicated to financial aid for study abroad. The reports that “In 2022, COLFUTURO awarded 1,534 loan-scholarships for master’s and Ph.D. programs, with 311 of those being for programs in the United States.”

Where are the students?

As in other student markets, IB schools are good points of access to bright Colombian students who are interested in higher education studies abroad. As per EducationFairs.net, these schools include:

• – Bogota
• – Bogota
• – Bogota
• – Bogota
• – Cali

In terms of higher education, the Government of Alberta provides on how the system is administered in Colombia. Here is an excerpt:

“Currently, higher education consists of the following types of institutions: professional technical institutions, technological institutions, technological schools, university institutions and universities. The most important characteristic that sets the universities apart from other post-secondary institutions is the emphasis on research activities.

The obligatory licensing of institutions and registration of programs should not be confused with accreditation, which is voluntary in Colombia. An institution can be fully authorized to offer a non-accredited program. The National System of Accreditation (Sistema Nacional de Acreditación), maintains a searchable online database of information about all registered higher education institutions and programs.

Accreditation is awarded on a program-by-program basis, starting at the undergraduate level. The CNA maintains a list of all accredited programs. The ultimate level of accreditation pertains to the entire institution and is separate from the accreditation of individual programs.”

The US International Trade Administration offers this guidance as well:

“At the higher education level, private universities also offer important recruitment opportunities for undergraduate and graduate programs. U.S. universities should make initial contact with the office of foreign relations in each university in order to introduce the U.S. university and its programs and areas of specialization to prospective students looking to expand their opportunities abroad.”

Several Colombian universities feature in the QS Top 500 World University Rankings, and over 50 are in the .

For additional background, please see:

• “Outbound mobility trends for key Latin Markets: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico”
• “Affordability a top concern for South American and Mexican students”

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This time, we turn to the Americas: Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. These countries, and the region in general, account for some of the most remarkable recent increases in students for major destinations – particularly Canada.

We use 2020 UNESCO data on tertiary outbound mobility as our baseline, then factor in more recent data from government sources in leading destinations (Australia, Canada, US) where available to see how mobility is trending in 2022. Please note: Australian, Canadian, and US data includes enrolments in other sectors as well as higher education.

Students from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico of course go to other countries as well, but our focus here is on destinations enrolling more than 2,000 students from these countries.

Brazil

The most recent UNESCO data (2020) counts 89,150 Brazilian students abroad in higher education. This number is likely higher today if we go on the basis of rapid growth in student numbers in Australia and Canada in particular – some of which will be in the higher education sector. There were 30% more Brazilian students at all levels/types of education in Australia in 2022 than in 2021, and Canada registered the same percentage increase. Numbers have not grown as significantly in the US.

• Argentina: 20,515 in 2020 (UNESCO)
• Australia: 19,055 in 2022 (+30% y-o-y)
• Portugal: 18,080 in 2020 (UNESCO)
• Canada: 14,465 in 2022 (+30%)
• US: 14,895 in 2021/22 (+6%)
• France: 5,435 in 2021/22 (+7%) according to
• Germany: 4,670 (UNESCO)
• Spain: 2,070 (UNESCO)

Many Brazilian students travel abroad for language programmes. In 2022, a BELTA survey found that the top preferences for Brazilian language students were Canada, the United States, UK, Ireland, and Australia. Here’s an astounding bit of information: the Brazilian embassy in Ireland estimates that the number of Brazilian students in Ireland rose from 13,600 in 2016 to 70,000 in 2021.

While language studies are the most popular option for Brazilian students, the survey also found that more Brazilian students are considering university studies abroad. As the second chart (below) indicates, undergraduate programmes moved from 7th place in 2019 to 6th place in 2022 in terms of their popularity, and graduate programmes moved from 9th to 7th.

Colombia

The most recent UNESCO data (2020) counts 34,780 Colombian students abroad in higher education. Colombian student outbound is more degree-oriented than is the case in Brazil or Mexico, though many Colombian students take a language course to prepare them for their degree programme. Given this feature of the Colombian market, we can assume that Australian, Canadian, and the US universities – as well as language programmes – were seeing many more Colombian students in 2022 than in 2021.

Canada has seen dramatic growth from the Colombian market. The number of Colombian students in Canada in 2022 (12,440) was 123% higher than in 2019, when there were only 5,580 students. By contrast, Australian institutions welcomed 7% more Colombian students and US institutions hosted 4% more students over that same time frame (2019–2022).

• Australia: 22,260 in 2022 (+52% y-o-y)
• Spain: 16,460 in 2019/20 according to
• Argentina: 13,480 in 2020 (UNESCO)
• Canada: 12,440 in 2022 (+54%)
• US: 8,075 in 2021/22 (+14%)
• Germany: 3,530 in 2020 (UNESCO)
• Chile: 2,465 in 2020 (UNESCO)
• Ecuador: 2,170 in 2020 (UNESCO)

Mexico

The most recent UNESCO data (2020) counts 56,910 Mexican students abroad in higher education. Since then, more Mexicans have opted to study abroad, and Canada, again, is rising in popularity. Canadian institutions welcomed 30% more Mexicans in 2022 than in 2021, and growth is even more significant compared with 2019. That year, there were only 8,670 Mexican students in Canada – the jump in 2022 to 14,930 represents a 72% increase over the span of three years. By contrast, the US recorded only a 1% increase and the number of Mexican students in Australia fell by 30% over the three years from 2019 to 2022.

• Canada: 14,930 in 2022 (+30% y-o-y)
• US: 14,500 in 2021/22 (+12%)
• Spain: 8,475 in 2019/20 according to the Spanish government
• France: 2,258 in 2020 (UNESCO)
• Australia: 2,160 (+67%)
• Germany: 3,450 in 2020 (UNESCO)

Canada’s big push in Latin America

Clearly, Canadian institutions have intensified their recruiting in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. But the focus is wider than that – the entire Latin and South American region is sending many more students to Canada than before. For example:

• Peru: 4,025 in 2022 (+114% y-o-y) – up 289% since 2019
• Ecuador: 2,550 in 2022 (+33%) – up 80% since 2019
• Chile: 1,990 in 2022 (+30%) – up 169% since 2019
• Trinidad and Tobago: 1,000 (+32%) – up 34% since 2019
• Argentina: 870 (+30%) – up 117% since 2019
• Bolivia: 370 (+37%) – up 147% since 2019

While some of those numbers may seem small – especially compared with the tens of thousands of students from Canada’s top five markets – they are significant and reflect a surge of popularity for Canada in Latin and South America. Many of the markets more than doubled in size for Canada over the span of just three years. The larger bases of students from each country now could provide the basis for an even stronger growth trajectory – provided the current cohort enjoys their experience in Canada and conveys their satisfaction to peers at home.

Canada’s Student Direct Stream (SDS) – an expedited study permit processing programme for students from certain countries applying to study at a Canadian post-secondary institution – may be part of the reason that Canada is outperforming other top destinations. Of the 14 countries on the SDS list, seven are in Latin/South America or the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Australia is also increasing its efforts in the region

Australian institutions also seem to have their sights set on South and Latin America in their diversification strategies. A March 2023 indicates significant investment in the region, with key activities centring on events and student fairs, scholarships, and loans. Austrade notes that Colombia “has become a focal point for institutions appointing staff in the region.” In 2022, Austrade launched a Study Australia Experience website aimed at the Latin American market, with content translated into Spanish and Portuguese. The overarching goal of the initiative is to help participating Australian institutions (33 in total) to increase enrolments from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. The website is part of a that also involves school representatives, social media, agents, and online events.

For additional background, please see:

• “Canada’s foreign enrolment grew by more than 30% in 2022”
• “Immigration and work opportunities key for Mexican students”
• “Brazilian market showing its strength this year”
• “UK removes visitor visa requirement for Colombian travellers”

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For all of those reasons, the need for a visitor visa has been seen as an irritant and an impediment to Colombian travel to the UK. And so it was big news this week when the UK Ambassador to Colombia George Hodgson announced the removal of the visitor visa requirement, effective 9 November 2022. “The UK will open up its doors to tourism and other sectors for Colombians,” said the Ambassador during a 18 October press conference. “This is a great step forward in our bilateral relations.”

¡Tenemos una gran noticia! A partir del 9 de noviembre de 2022, los nacionales no necesitarán una visa de visitante para viajar al por periodos de hasta 6 meses.

Visita para revisar toda la información.

¡Reino Unido los está esperando!

— Embajador Británico – George Hodgson (@HodgsonGeorge)

Colombians will now be able travel to the UK as ““, which means they can stay in the country for up to six months, for “tourism, business, study (courses up to 6 months) and other permitted activities.” Needless to say, the move improves the competitive position of institutions and schools in the UK that aim to recruit Colombian students for short-term programmes.

The British embassy in Bogota reports that roughly 12,000 Colombians travelled to the UK in the first half of 2022, and projects that there are between 24,000 and 25,000 Colombian visitors annually – a number that is expected to rise now that the visa requirement has been removed. Ambassador Hodgson added that any Colombian travellers that have already applied for a visitor visa, can now withdraw their application and apply for a refund of their visa fees.

For additional background, please see:

• “UK ELT shows real gains through second quarter of 2022“
• “UK resumes priority visa processing“
• “UK extends visa waiver programme for Gulf states“

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One such trend is to be found in Latin America right now.

Many Latin American countries have been sending increasing numbers of students abroad – but many are also home to important and sophisticated institutions that are competing ever more strongly for students from all over the world.

Latin American outbound

Spain is a highly popular country for Latin American students. Spanish institutions have been receiving increasing numbers of Latin American students for several years: Ecuador is the #2 market and Colombia is #4. Both are growing much faster than the remaining countries in Spain’s top 5 list.

In Portugal, where the number of international students in higher education has more than doubled in the past decade, 41% of the nearly 50,000 international students enrolled in Portuguese universities were from Brazil.

Latin America is also an increasingly important region for Canada. Canadian institutions hosted 81% more Mexican students in 2021 than 2020, while Bolivia, Chile, and Peru sent 153%, 133%, and 113% more students, respectively. In the US, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela are in the top 25 markets.

Moving to Australia, the fastest growing source region for students is Latin America. Between 2013–17, the number of Latin American students in Australian institutions , and the vocational and English-language sectors are responsible for a lot of that growth. In 2018, 40,000 Brazilian students were in Australia, making them the fourth-largest international student group. Colombia is also now in Australia’s top 10 source markets.

That’s a lot of outbound. But it’s only part of the story of Latin American internationalisation right now.

International collaborations are a top priority

In 2019, QS conducted a survey that found that fully . The strategies’ goals included:

• Comprehensive internationalisation (49%)
• Expansion and improvement of international mobility (41%)
• Development and promotion of new international partnerships (31%)
• Encouragement of international academic collaboration (26%)
• Improvement of international activities management and processes (17%)

By “comprehensive internationalisation,” respondents meant that they were committed to developing their “programmes, staff, and activities that will ultimately help to attract international talent and develop academic staff to become experts in their field of research.”

The level of development was high enough already in 2019 that Latin American countries were receiving almost as many students (137,000) as they were sending students abroad (195,400), according to UNESCO data.

Institutions responding to the QS survey painted a picture of collaboration and global-mindedness: “Most universities in the region [had] between 50 to 400 official international agreements (65%) and up to 100 unofficial collaborations (54%) with global partner institutions.”

In 2022 – despite the pandemic – Latin American universities have only upped their game. reports that at the 2022 NAFSA conference,

“Dr Rodrigo Cintra, chief international officer of Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM or Higher School of Advertising and Marketing) in São Paulo, Brazil, put the American and European universities that have dominated international education on notice, saying: ‘We are here to play with you.’”

Underpinning the confidence is the fact that Latin American universities invested heavily in technology and online platforms during the pandemic. Dr Brigitte Baptiste, rector of the Universidad Ean in Bogotá, Colombia, told the NAFSA audience,

“We invested lots of money in our technological capacities. But also, in creating new languages or making virtual interaction less boring, less heavy, much more attractive for learners.”

Encouraging intra-regional mobility has been a heavier priority for Latin American countries of late. In 2019, we reported that 23 Latin American countries had signed on to a new Convention for the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Higher Education Diplomas in Latin America and the Caribbean. The agreement was born out of concern that too many Latin American students were going overseas to study rather than staying within the region. The hope attached to the agreement was that encouraging intra-regional mobility would concentrate graduate talent in Latin America rather than see too much of it migrate overseas.

The growing niche Latin American universities are carving out for high-quality online platforms and teaching is complemented by their investment in the kind of programmes the world needs most right now. Focuses include trauma-informed pedagogy, racial literacy and critical thinking (Universidad Veritas in Costa Rica) as well as sustainability, pollution, and climate change. reports that Ms Baptiste “challenged her audience to re-imagine “tourism, agricultural, food and entrepreneurship programmes from a sustainable point of view.”

A greater focus on intra-regional?

It will be interesting and exciting to see if Latin America follows a similar internationalisation trajectory as Asia has over the past few years. As we reported in 2019, Asian students have had more and more reason to stay within their region rather than study in the West. Reasons for that, we noted in 2019, included:

• “A dozen of the world’s 100 top ranked universities are now in Asia – in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. (Editor’s update: In the , the number of Asian institutions in the top 100 is now 26, meaning that a quarter of the world’s best-ranked universities are now in Asia.)

• Asia is the world’s fastest-growing regional economy; China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea are driving the most expansion. Students realise that Asian universities can help them to access industry internships and jobs in the region.

• China, the continent’s powerhouse, invests heavily in its massive, multifaceted soft-power initiative known as One Belt, One Road, which stretches through more than a hundred countries and through South and East Asia. China is creating thousands of scholarships to attract Asian as well as African students. It is increasing higher education capacity and tempting Asian students from within the region to choose China rather than go overseas. (Editor’s update: China has closed its borders for more than two years now as a result of COVID. It will be interesting to see whether, once China opens up, international students return to the country in the same massive volumes as before the pandemic.)

• Students everywhere are gravitating towards programmes with strong and immediate employment outcomes. Asian universities are performing very well in this regard. QS’s 2019 Graduate Employability Rankings include four Asian universities – Tsinghua, Peking, Hong Kong and Tokyo – among the top 20 institutions. QS notes that “Asian universities are among the world’s best at enhancing their alumni’s job market prospects.” (Editor’s update: In QS’s , 23 Asian institutions were in the top 100).

• More than half a dozen Asian countries have national strategies aimed at making them major destinations, with several setting international student targets. China is now the world’s fourth most popular study destination after the US, Australia, and Canada. (Editor’s update: This is no longer the case given that no international students have been able to enter China for more than two years. Again, it will be interesting to see what happens when China lifts its travel restrictions).”

As it stands, six Latin American universities are in the 2022 QS World University Rankings.

For additional background, please see:

• “New scheme aims to boost student mobility within Latin America”
• “Closer to home: Intra-regional mobility in Asia“
• “���Ϲ��� Exchange podcast: Latin America market update: agent and educator reaction to COVID-19”

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As readers may be aware, ���Ϲ��� recently conducted its second online event – ���Ϲ��� Virtual Americas – which was held from the 25th to the 27th of August. The event featured a series of webinars for attendees and we are adapting one of those for today’s podcast.

Our host is Marcela Wolff-Lopez, ���Ϲ���’s Director of Business Development for Latin America. Marcela is based in Medellin, Colombia and she is joined by a panel of experts from across the region. Their wide-ranging discussion explores how the region has responded to COVID-19 and also what opportunities are now emerging for recruitment from and among Latin markets.

You can listen to the episode in the player below, and we encourage you to subscribe via your favourite podcast app in order to receive future episodes automatically.

For additional background, please see:

• “���Ϲ��� Exchange podcast: Building safe student corridors: A case study from Canada”

The post ���Ϲ��� Podcast: Latin America market update: Agent and educator reaction to COVID-19 appeared first on ���Ϲ��� Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

On a survey-wide basis, however, there are some important global findings regarding perceptions of the US as well as potential barriers to study abroad:

• Two-thirds of prospective students surveyed said that the current political climate in the US does not have an effect on their interest in studying there, versus 26% who said they didn’t like what’s happening in the US. Nine percent said that they were more interested in studying in the US given the current political climate. As the report notes, “the US brand remains strong and students continue to apply and enrol.”
• Two key concerns for prospective students are whether an institution or school has strong student services (such as help in applying for OPT) as well whether they will be able to get a student visa to study in the US.

South America

The South American sample comprised the following countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Bolivia.

Social media: The most likely places to reach South American prospects on social media are WhatsApp (95% are on it at least once a week), YouTube (83%), Facebook (80%), and Instagram (80%).

Concerns about studying in the US: Just over one-third of students from the region said that obtaining a visa is their biggest worry when considering study in the US. Concern is also high (31%) regarding whether there would be an opportunity for a job in the US. And a majority said that affordability is their first consideration when evaluating travelling to the US for study.

Whether US-based or not, educators are well advised to highlight career placement services, job opportunities, and graduation employment rates in communications with prospective students from the region.

Study orientation: Seven in ten South American students were in non-STEM fields, and the largest proportion of these students were interested in business studies. Of the remaining students in STEM, the largest proportion were pursuing engineering.

Most of the sample was either interested in graduate degrees (38%) or English-language studies (31%), and 19% were considering undergraduate degrees.

The report advises educators to:

“Target STEM prospects for graduate programming and non-STEM prospects for English-language programmes. Target business & management and engineering programmes across all degrees offered.”

Characteristics of select markets

Zeroing in further on leading South American markets, we can observe the following:

Brazil

Brazilians are less worried about getting a visa (19%) than about an unfavourable exchange rate (38% – twice the proportion found in Mexico and three times that in Colombia) and being able to find a job in the US (32%), suggesting that affordability is an area of intense interest for Brazilians. Only 7% said that the political climate in the US would have a negative effect on their interest in studying in the US. Close to half of Brazilians priortise affordability and the same number prioritise student services.

Colombia

Like Mexicans (see below), Colombians are most worried about obtaining a visa (46%) and being able to get a job in the US (33%). They are much less worried about exchange rate issues (12%) and like Brazilians, are not overly bothered about the political environment in the US. Colombians prioritise affordability more than most nationalities surveyed (63%) and look for evidence of strong student services (58%).

Peru

Peruvian students are more like Colombians than Brazilians or Mexicans in terms of their concerns about study in the US. They worry most about being able to obtain a visa (47%) and being able to get a job in the US (30%), and the exchange rate as well as political environment in the US are not major barriers. Proportions saying that affordability and strong student services are most influential in their study abroad decision making are almost identical to those found in Colombia.

Mexico

As in South America, Mexican students are heavy users of WhatsApp (94% are on it at least once a week). Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are also popular, and STEM graduate respondents were the most likely to favour Twitter and LinkedIn.

Mexicans are more worried than South Americans in general about obtaining a visa (40% – twice the proportion found in Brazil), and less concerned than them about getting a job once they’re there (19%). “Unfavourable political environment” rose as an issue that concerns Mexicans (18% versus 6% for South Americans in general). Affordability is most important influencer of whether Mexican students will study in the US (and where). The report naturally recommends highlighting financial aid that would be available to eligible Mexican students.

The profile of Mexican students is very similar to South American students, with a large majority in non-STEM fields and the most popular areas of study graduate and English-language programmes.

For additional information, please see:

• “Brazil’s outbound numbers surged in 2018”
• “From the field: Where are Mexican students going now?”
• “Where the students are: mobile, messaging, and apps”
• “Global survey highlights regional trends for English-language proficiency”

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The study is entitled , and it prompted a flurry of meetings over the summer to arrive at a strategy for boosting mobility in the region.

Most study outside of the region

The UNESCO study found that less than four in ten (38%) of the 312,000 Latin American and Caribbean students who studied abroad in 2017 remained in the region. Meanwhile, more than half (54%) chose to study in North America or Europe.

The most popular places within Latin America/Caribbean for students from the region are Argentina and Chile, which drew 84% and 87% of their foreign enrolments, respectively, from within the region.

The most attractive destinations in Latin America for international students from outside the region are Ecuador and Brazil. Just over half of international students in Brazil come from outside the region, many of them from Portugal, Spain, and the United States. Brazil also draws students from sub-Saharan Africa.

But overall, Latin America and the Caribbean are not hotspots for overseas students. In 2017, the region drew only 176,000 international students (a 3.5% share of the global total), 7 in 10 of which were from other Latin American/Caribbean countries. Another 12% came from North America and Western Europe.

New agreement

This past summer in Buenos Aires, representatives from 23 countries attended the organised by UNESCO. For three days, the delegates worked on an agreement to better harmonise education systems across Latin America and the Caribbean and thus pave the way for increased student mobility within the region. At the end of the conference, the representatives signed, on behalf of their countries, a new Convention for the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Higher Education Diplomas in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The signatory countries to the Convention are Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The new agreement, also known as the “Buenos Aires Recognition Convention,” will commit all signatories to put “all the necessary measures” in place to allow for the recognition of various education credentials across the signatory countries. This, in turn, will make it easier for students to apply to and be accepted into other member countries’ education institutions. Smoothing such processes has been shown to be a major driver of intra-regional mobility (perhaps most notably in the EU where Erasmus+ allowed 800,000 Europeans to study, train, or volunteer in partner countries around the world in 2017).

The Buenos Aires Recognition Convention “will be implemented in synergy with the .” The secretariat for the new convention will be UNESCO’s International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO-IESALC) in Caracas, Venezuela.

After the convention is ratified, credential evaluators will need to be trained and systems put in place to allow institutions to be able to easily assess Latin American students’ academic transcripts and diplomas/degrees. This, as is the case in all mobility agreements, will be a lengthy process, but at least the stage has now been set for it to happen.

A new step in internationalisation

Latin American students are no strangers to large-scale programmes aimed to enable them to travel abroad for study. For example, Mexico launched Proyecta 100,000 in 2013, a massive project intended to increase Mexican enrolments in US English-language training programmes to 100,000 by 2018. Canada has its own version of the initiative with Mexico: Proyecta 10,000.

Another significant agreement between Latin American/Caribbean countries and the US is , the goal of which is to boost the number of American students studying in Latin America and the Caribbean to 100,000 and bring 100,000 students to the United States by 2020.

Brazil’s Science Without Borders programme is now over, but from its beginning to end, it sent a huge number of students abroad to the US, Canada, and UK.

There has also been a project called CAMINOS (scheduled to end this October), an umbrella project designed to leverage existing mobility schemes between European and Latin American countries. CAMINOS was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and implemented through a consortium of 28 partners from Europe and Latin America.

For additional background, please see:

• “Southeast Asia trading and mobility bloc continues to take shape”
• “Mongolian outbound higher than estimated, most of it going to Asian powerhouses”
• “Top Asian institutions form new universities alliance”
• “Erasmus+ supported nearly 800,000 international placements in 2017”

The post New scheme aims to boost student mobility within Latin America appeared first on ���Ϲ��� Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Higher education is one of the sectors that stands to benefit in the near term. President Juan Manuel Santos has been saying for years that he wants to make his nation the best educated in Latin America by 2025. The President’s National Development Plan for 2014-2018, Todos por un nuevo país (“All for a New Country”) keys on education as one of its three main pillars, along with peace and equity.

With peace now taking hold, foreign universities may likewise see Colombia more favourably. While the country has solid links with France, Germany, Mexico, and the rest of South America,  not only by the civil war, but by the related problems of violent drug trafficking and street crime. Institutions like the University of Delaware, which partnered with Colombia in 2004, and Purdue University, which signed an agreement in 2010, have been exceptions rather than the rule.

Another practical dividend of peace could be found in the country’s public finances. Some observers have speculated that greater stability will free up funds for investment in higher education, but this is unclear. National budgets have many moving pieces, and oil revenue has plummeted in recent years as global oil prices fell off.

Second term President Santos’s economic blueprint includes a 6.6% spending increase for 2017, but this is funded by higher taxes, and is largely earmarked for infrastructure and home building. Still, education is the second largest budget expenditure for Colombia at US$11 billion.

Reforms on the horizon?

Quality and access to higher education are indeed crucial issues for Colombia. In spite of its , Colombia is one of the ten most unequal countries in the world in terms of access. Public funding of institutions is very uneven and only 9% of children from poor backgrounds go on to tertiary education, while the percentage is 53% for children from wealthy families.

President Santos wants to bring key reforms to Colombian higher education, including a new credit transfer system, improved national quality control protocols, a streamlined national qualifications framework, and new pathways to university studies. He has spoken of fostering more interplay between higher education, research, and the demands of the wider economy. There have also been moves toward increasing mobility between the non-formal, vocational, and university sectors, and bolstering the technical education sector is another national goal.

President Santos also hopes to further internationalise Colombian higher education. The Colombian system is more internationalised than those of some of its regional peers, however there is a way to go before Santos can claim to have reached his goal. The Ministry of Education has limited tools due to university autonomy that gives schools final say on whether, for example, they prioritise English instruction for students.

However, internationalisation is generally agreed upon, within the system, as an important direction for Colombian institutions. And internationalisation was the theme of the 8th Latin America and the Caribbean Higher Education Conference (LACHEC), held in Bogotá in November 2016.

Colombia has forged stronger international linkages. Shortly after the peace agreement was finalised, Colombia and the UK inked a new degree recognition agreement. The deal was signed at the London School of Economics with President Santos in attendance and the British Council acting a facilitator. With the UK one of the leading study destinations for Colombian post-graduate students, proper mutual degree recognition is expected to help boost mobility.

Cooperation with France has been strengthened as well. French Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development Jean-Marc Ayrault visited the capital city of Bogotá in December and signed higher education and scientific agreements. His visit came after a pledge of support from France upon news that a Colombia-FARC peace accord had been signed.

Further agreements are also providing for new funding in the Colombian system. The European Union recently signed a grant agreement with the northwestern department of Chocó. Part of this money will be directed toward reforming education services. And some 287,000 tertiary students will benefit from a US$160 million World Bank loan agreed to in January 2017. The new programme is called  (Program for Higher Education Access and Quality) and it aims to improve the quality of higher education, and to tackle inequality of access through the use of loans for disadvantaged students. Some of this funding will also be used to support Pasaporte a la Ciencia, or “Passport to Science”, which helps students enroll in master’s and PhD programmes abroad.

Another piece of the plan to improve equity of access involves using ICETEX (Colombian Institute of Education Loans and Technical Studies Abroad) student loans and grants. Through a new programme called Tu Eliges (“You Choose”), ICETEX is expanding student options by eliminating funding caps. This is supposed to allow access to more institutions for poorer students, useful in a country where enrolment costs for private universities are six times what they are for public schools. As an adjunct to this initiative, by 2018 only students in accredited institutions or programmes will be eligible for the loans, a move designed to push more educational institutions to seek accreditation.

The government hopes the new ICETEX grants will help consolidate equity gains made by the grant programme . Though sometimes imperfect in execution, Ser Pilo Paga has, according to analysis by Foco Economico, “democratised access and generated class diversity in elite universities, historically reserved for students of high strata.”

Tricky timing

Colombia’s civil war spanned five decades. Over that period, 220,000 people lost their lives and more than five million were displaced. The majority of Colombians have never lived in a country without armed conflict until the signing of the 2016 peace agreement.

While there is optimism, obstacles to maintaining the truce lie ahead. Access to education, particularly in previously marginalised communities, will be a key factor in reducing the risk of a return to conflict.

On-the-ground realities change from region to region. Colombia has imposing geography, diverse ethnic makeup, and strong regional identities. However, perhaps the most daunting challenge of all is time.

National elections are coming in 2018, which, with President Santos having reached his term limit, will see a new president occupy the Palacio de Nariño. New leadership could bring new policy directions, but it would be easy to assume that any major deviation from the course Mr Santos has set would prove unpopular in a country eager to move past conflict.

For the moment, the current administration is under considerable pressure to move forward with its planned reforms, so that they are at least underway and have a chance to take hold before the 2018 electoral cycle. Much is at stake for the country, its educational institutions, and their current and prospective international partners. The planned reforms, if successful, will help to further stabilise and strengthen Colombian higher education. Many of those institutions may become more viable and productive partners for foreign educators in the process.

Meanwhile, outbound mobility from Colombia continues to grow with nearly 30,000 students enrolled in tertiary education abroad in 2015. As Colombia’s middle class continues to expand, and the new peace agreement ushers in a period of political and economic stability, that growth trend in outbound student numbers is likely to continue in the years ahead.

For additional background, please see:

• “From the field: Recruiting in Colombia”
• “New study offers important insights on demand for English training in Colombia”
• “Market Snapshot: Colombia”

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