- Argentina - Portal público de noticias de la República Argentina.
The higher education training system is regarded as the best in Latin America. It is made up of 103 undergraduate institutions attended by over 1,500,000 students. In fact, 1,285, 000 of these students attend state-run institutions and 250,000 study in private universities.
Extending all over the country ´s regions both universities and institutes feature an academic offer targeted at foreign students and welcome roughly 25,000 young students on an annual basis.
Studying options involve pre-graduate, undergraduate and graduate courses of studies. With respect to pre-graduate courses of studies, they are short-lasting, do not take longer than a four-year term and offer technical degrees. Concerning undergraduate courses, they include bachelor ´s degrees, some teacher training colleges, courses of study such as medicine, law, and different engineering majors, among other options. As regards graduate courses, options comprise a wide scope of disciplinary fields. Fees are generally paid and some universities offer scholarships to foreign students.
The higher education system
The higher education system includes:
• 38 national universities
They are state-run and their campus facilities extend all over the country´ s regions namely the Buenos Aires, central-eastern, central-western, metropolitan, northeastern, northwestern and southern areas – in reality, they entail Argentina ´s higher education largest sector which is attended by more than 80% of students and more than 50% of research works are carried out in these universities.
• 43 private universities
These universities charge a fee based upon the institution and the course of studies selected. As to their campus facilities, they are located in the country ´s major urban areas and are attended roughly by 250 thousand students.
• 6 state-run higher education institutes and 13 privately-run undergraduate institutes.
With respect to academic offers, they are based upon a single disciplinary area such as arts, aeronautics, medicine, theology, economy, business and administration, among other options.
It is to be highlighted that private institutes alone are attended by roughly 10 thousand students. As regards state-run institutions, they do not charge a fee and admission requirements for foreign students vary depending on the institutions in question, whether they being private or state-run. In case of private institutes, fees are to be found in each one of these institutes.
• 1 provincial university
The Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos owns four schools, having campus facilities only in that province. As to the courses of studies offered by this university, there are the ones having a bearing on science and technology, management and health sciences, among others.
• 1 foreign university
It is referred to as the University of Bologna, with its campus located in the City of Buenos Aires. As to its academic offer, it includes master degree courses in market research, local development internationalization, research methodology, advanced training courses, and a graduate program on European integration.
• 1 international university
It is known as the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO), with its campus lying in Argentina, where the following courses may be attended personally or done on a virtual basis: a Phd in Social Sciences, thirteen master degree courses and specialization programs, graduate courses and seminars. Furthermore, scholarships are offered to foreigners.
All accreditations provided by educational institutions, whether they being public or privately-run, are subject to the acknowledgement granted by the National Department of Education through the National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation (CONEAU), an entity being in charge of permanently evaluating the whole of higher education institutions and the degrees thereby granted:
• The pre-undergraduate and undergraduate courses of studies offered by Argentine universities and the resulting national validity of the degrees granted are subject to official acknowledgement provided by the Argentine State through the Department of Education, Science and Technology as prescribed by section 41 of the Higher Education Act Nº 24.521.
• Those courses of studies endangering the public interest by directly jeopardizing the inhabitants´ health, security, rights, goods and training, shall have to be regularly accredited by the National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation (CONEAU), or by properly acknowledged privately-run entities set up to that effect.
• Pursuant to section 46 of the aforementioned Act, graduate courses of study, whether being specializations, master degree courses or Phd degree programs also have to be accredited by the CONEAU, in compliance with the standards set forth by the Department of Education, Science and Technology jointly with the Universities Council.
• On the other hand, section 44 of the above mentioned Act sets forth that higher education institutions must guarantee that institutional assessment internal evaluations are conducted jointly with external assessments to be regularly carried out at least every six years against the backdrop of targets agreed upon by every institution. External evaluations are conducted by the CONEAU or private entities set up to that effect, as well as by renowned academic peers.
