Higher education finance in Chile

Chronicle of Higher Education

October 16, 2011”In Chile, Students' Anger at Tuition Debt Fuels Protests and a National Debate” By Andrew Downie

This article seems to sum up the entire first half of our class. It’s the tuition debate in real life, real time. While we are witnessing something historic in the occupy wall street protests here in the USA, it’s very interesting that students in Chile are willing to protest on a national level for decreases in tuition.

At first glance it appears that higher education is already relatively cheap in Chile, but the article does point out that a big part of the problem for the Chilean government and the students is the massive increase in demand, from 250,000 college students in 1990 to over a million now. It’s easy to see why the public institutions are looking for ways to handle the demand.

However, even with the country’s recent economic successes, the minimum wage in Chile is about $4300 per year. Of course, one question that easily comes to mind is whether or not college graduates are making only minimum wage. Just an aside, but it always bothers me when a journalist will cherry pick the numbers to exaggerate their case. In this case, they compare “top universities that charge $8000 per year” with “minimum wage”. That sounds ominously like comparing the high end of the distribution curve on one side with the low end on another (my apologies for the stats jargon, that’s what I get for taking stats this semester). It would make much more sense (but perhaps wouldn’t be as exciting) to compare the true means of both curves.

Anyway, back to the point – what is interesting about this is the level of public support that students are getting from Chilean society, even shop owners whose businesses are being affected by the protests.

It does appear that Chileans are not necessarily looking for a free ride for everyone, just a fair shot at education for the lower and middle classes, who are new to the world of higher education in that country, and are apparently being saddled with huge debt. I worry about our own American students who are in similar financial situation.

One more thing – anyone notice the reference to “banging pots in Santiago? Those interested in Chilean history will recognize that as a form of protest used in 1971 against the government of Salvador Allende. Back then it was a right wing effort to bring down a left wing government. Today it is viewed as a more left wing approach to demand change from, as the article notes “the first right wing government in a generation.” My, how table do turn sometimes

Flipping classrooms

Flipped Classrooms

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-10-06/flipped-classrooms-virtual-teaching/50681482/1

This weeks blog is about a website that my wife showed me, www.khanacademy.org. It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. I’m already using it to help me with my statistics work, and I’m showing it to every student who comes to my office expressing difficulty with math. If you get a chance to watch Salman Khan discussing the website on www.ted.com, do so, because it’s amazing.

Perhaps the most innovative part is the concept of “taking negative feelings” out of the learning process. What Khan means by that is the hesitancy of students to ask questions in class, lest they feel stupid, or feel like they are incapable of understanding. One cannot, for example, pause or rewind an instructor in the middle of a lecture, but they can do so with a video recorded lecture as often as they want to.

What does this have to do with higher education finance? Well, currently, not much. But if we peer into the future a bit, could this potentially create a situation where institutions (both higher and lower education) cut costs by eliminating faculty and simply have students watch videos of material and come in for the occasional tutorial and test of their knowledge? Could it lead to a situation where campuses have much less need for the “brick and mortar” of an institution and go fully toward a future where technology is the teacher and the rest of us are merely administrative assistants?

If students are able to get virtually all the content they need from internet videos and teachers in the classroom merely moderate problem solving sessions, what will it mean in the future to be a teacher? It’s exciting and scary at the same time.

Pittsburgh, meet Rwanda.

“Carnegie Mellon Plans to Build Campus in Rwanda”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/world/americas/carnegie-mellon-plans-to-build-campus-in-rwanda.html?ref=internationaleducation

This was a small piece in the New York Times International Education section, but considering our class discussions about the problems of offering quality education in relatively poor countries and the seeming impossibility of engaging in the kind of cost sharing the places more burden on students in  a place like Rwanda, this seems like an interesting option.

The article discusses Carnegie Mellon’s plans to open a campus in Rwanda in 2012, which would offer “courses…open to anyone worldwide, not just Rwandan students.” It also mentions that it will offer degrees that are “indistinguishable” from those offered at Carnegie Mellon.

The questions I have: How will the degree in Rwanda be priced? Will it be done in such a way so that Rwandan students can truly afford it? Will Carnegie Mellon students in the USA be subsidizing these efforts with their tuition dollars? Or, in effect, have they already? If so, this takes the idea of cost sharing to new levels of thinking. American students may be asked to cover not only a higher share of their own tuition, but also that of the students of other nations.

One could easily argue that the people of Rwanda are owed something by the world that turned a blind eye to the tragedy there in 1994. For a detailed account of how monstrous the betrayal was, read “We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories From Rwanda” by Philip Gourevitch.

Nonetheless – I can’t help but be curious about where the money is coming from for this venture and who is ultimately paying the price.