The Ministry of Public Education (SEP) identified that in 2024 around 400 thousand young people that will conclude the baccalaureate They will not have a place in the universities of the country, that is, they will be rejected by the higher education institutions (IES).
“Thousands of young graduates high school students do not continue studies in the Upper level; In the 2020-2021 school year they graduated with baccalaureate concluded 1.4 million young people; For its part, the enrollment of first admission to the IES was 1.1 million students, it is estimated that by 2024, the graduates of baccalaureate There will be 1.5 million, this shows the existence of a gap between the supply of places in HEIs, schools, programs and modalities and the demands and preferences of HE applicants, so this inequality in access must be addressed urgently. , he says National Higher Education Program 2023-2024 of the Ministry of Public Education.
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The document states that in the last 20 years the gap in access to universities In the country it expanded in 17 entities of the country, while in five states: Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacán and Tlaxcala, it increased considerably. “(If) current trends continue, inequalities will continue to widen,” says the SEP.
The document explains that between the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 cycles, the absorption rate was reduced from 86.2 percent to 83.5 percent.
The SEP recognizes that it fell short of the goal set at the beginning of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the estimate is that they still have to create up to 155 thousand places by year.
In the sectoral program it was proposed increase enrollment annually in 188,961 students to achieve the coverage goal in higher education of 50 percent, but according to the SEP document The reduction of the first entry in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 cycles resulted in increases of only 33,308 and 67,547 places, respectively, which resulted in growth below what was expected.
According to Roberto Rodríguez Gómez, researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexicothe diagnosis of the SEP shows not only this non-compliance with the goals of mandatory education for young Mexicans, but also “it is a reflection of the budget stagnation that they have had throughout the six-year term, in particular, the public universities states and has become the main factor that has stopped the growth of educational opportunities.”
The specialist in higher educationwho has carried out various studies projecting the growth of enrollment in higher education institutions for the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (ANUIES)said that it is striking that the National Higher Education Program although it is only a proposal for the period 2023-2024, but this fulfills the reform undertaken at this educational level.
“Actually what we can see in this program is that it can become a platform for the next six-year term,” given that it is not only about the vision of the SEP but also the participation of the different sectors of the university system that make up the National Council for the Coordination of Higher Education (Conaces).
The researcher said that achieving the absolute absorption rate in higher education is almost impossible, because among graduates of baccalaureate There are those who leave without the necessary skills to enter a universityothers for economic or family reasons choose to enter the labor market instead of continuing their studies and there are others who are rejected.
The specialist commented that the Benito Juárez Welfare Universityone of Cuatroté’s star programs, did not solve the problem of coverage of the program either. higher educationto open more spaces for young people.
Coordination data Universities for Benito Juárez Welfare point out that until now 200 schools have been created in 31 entities in the country and have enrolled 62,775 young people.
According to the investigatorthat amount only means that they contributed to creating between one and 1.5 percent of the tuition national that at this moment barely exceeds five million students in higher education in the country.
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Pedro Flores, researcher at the Autonomous University from Querétaro, said that in the aspect of inclusion of coverage, the vindicating speeches that this government has been promoting are not enough.
“The constitutional reforms of free higher education were not enough, nor did the discourse change realities. We must learn that a scholarship program without responsibility for the beneficiaries does not increase the coverage rate, on the contrary, they are low,” he commented. the specialist.