ÌÇÐÄVlog

The problems faced by Latin American higher education are not significantly distinct from those faced by universities elsewhere in the world.

A huge expansion in undergraduate numbers and a significant widening of access has lowered the value of degrees in society and the jobs market, such that they no longer straightforwardly convey social status or professional distinction ¨C even in traditionally prestigious professional fields, such as law, education, psychology or administration.

As a result, the demand for ¨C and supply of ¨C postgraduate education has steadily expanded. The cost of postgraduate diplomas and master¡¯s degrees is high, but they provide graduates with an opportunity to differentiate themselves from their peers in an oversaturated labour market.

But such globally familiar challenges are amplified in Latin America by the region¡¯s weak institutions, chronic underinvestment and economic informality.

For instance, the devaluation of degrees is exacerbated by weak, politicised quality assurance systems that have permitted expansion to occur without adequate oversight. The result is huge disparities in quality between prestigious, well-funded universities and underfunded public or private institutions reliant mainly on modest tuition fees, whose graduates often earn less in the labour market.

The common problem of aligning graduate skills with employers¡¯ needs is also particularly stark in Latin America.

Many of the region¡¯s universities have rigid, hierarchical structures that hinder their ability to adapt effectively to changes in their environment. Typically, Latin American degrees are overly focused on theory and offer little in the way of practical experiences, interdisciplinary connections or links to current industry and technology.

In addition, the quality assurance that does exist is very process-oriented, further constraining agility and innovation. And chronic underinvestment in research, innovation and digital infrastructure also limits universities¡¯ capacity to adopt new technologies or build productive industry links.

These dynamics are compounded by the prevalence of informal labour markets, in which significant proportions of populations work outside legal regulations and without contracts or social protection. This undermines the value of formal qualifications, while the low-productivity sectors that are the foundations of many Latin American economies generate limited demand for advanced skills anyway. This exacerbates the depreciation in the value of degrees and limits the region¡¯s innovation capacity.

Then there is the political volatility that has always disrupted continuity and long-term reforms in Latin America.

Together, these factors make it particularly challenging to adopt the reforms that Latin America is crying out for: curricula that facilitate the continuous updating of content, co-designed with the manufacturing and service sectors ¨C plus the systematic teaching of cross-cutting professional competencies, such as digital literacy, teamwork, communication, problem-solving and critical thinking.

Like those everywhere else, there is a particularly urgent need in Latin America to prepare students for AI-intensive work environments. This requires integrating AI literacy across disciplines, not only in engineering and computer sciences. But, again, the problem in Latin America is exacerbated by the glacial pace of change and the lack of industry engagement.

Those already in the workforce also need to keep up with technology, of course. For them, microcredentials offer a solution. And, in Latin America, they could widen access further to education and knowledge, offering affordable pathways for marginalised groups, displaced workers and underserved communities.

Of course many microcredentials are offered by universities across the globe on platforms such as edX, FutureLearn and Coursera, and tech firms are also starting to develop their own offerings, such as Google Career Certificates or IBM¡¯s Skills Build. But hybrid public-private models are also being established in Latin America. Examples include SENAI in Brazil, which provides microcredentials aligned with the needs of the industrial sector, and the ¡°Challenge Bootcamp¡± established by the public-private and governmental skills organisation , which provides free microcredentials in coding and data analytics.

In Argentina, the National Institute of Technological Education () is testing the use of microcredentials within technical education, while in Bolivia and Guatemala, community-based initiatives are developing microcredentials in indigenous languages. Together, these initiatives demonstrate the potential of microcredentials to strengthen both employability and civic participation across diverse cultural and socioeconomic contexts.

However, the inflexibility of Latin American institutions means that official recognition of microcredentials has been slow to come, with officials struggling to see how they can align with established qualification frameworks. That said, some progress is being made, particularly in Colombia and Mexico, Chile and Brazil, while Uruguay is piloting projects that link microcredentials to more comprehensive plans for lifelong learning and digital inclusion.

Even better than national recognition would be common standards across the region. A model could be the developed a few years ago by the European MOOC Consortium, which the European Commission is .

But Latin American universities should not simply wait for such things to come to pass. They can act as catalysts for change by embedding microcredentials within their degree programmes and aligning them with the skills and competencies required by industry.

More broadly, they should become active architects of a more inclusive and future-oriented higher education system, rather than being passive recipients of change. They must reinvent their current range of professional degrees, fully incorporate AI into all their strategic, mission-related and support processes, and strengthen both the supply and quality of microcredentials.

Leadership, strategic vision and teamwork?are required to create a decision-making culture based on data and ongoing improvement, incorporating performance indicators linked to learning outcomes and graduate success.

New collaborative governance models also need to be developed, whereby institutional (including students), governmental and societal actors engage in deliberative processes to build consensus and share responsibility for higher education policy.

And, for their part, governments must commit to consistent investment in research, digital infrastructure and creative teaching techniques. Higher education must be integrated into national development plans, and quality assurance systems must be strengthened and depoliticised.

The wide range in Latin American universities¡¯ institutional capacities will make it more challenging to implement systemic changes evenly. But even if the pace of change varies, such steps would help create the institutional and political resilience necessary to overcome current constraints and bring Latin American higher education into closer alignment with labour market and societal needs.

Carlos Olivares is an independent consultant specialising in higher education. He is based in Chile.