Costa Rica: Is
This A “Degrees
R Us” Society Or
What?
By John Holtz*
Has anyone
stopped lately
to count the
number of
different
universities in
our little
country of 4.2
million people
something the
size of West
Virginia? As of
last count, I
came up with 55.
That has to be
some kind of
world’s first,
right? Perhaps
more “U”s than
failed beach
condo projects.
Obviously not
all 4.2 million
people are
candidates to
seek higher
education. So
just how big is
this market and
how competitive
is it?
Seems to me
every time I
drive on the
east side of San
José there are
huge signs
announcing
enrollment for a
new school that
used to be a
popular pulperia;
“Whamo
University of
Yoga for the
Rich and Upper
Middle Class.”
“La Nacion”, the
leading Spanish
language daily
newspaper must
be making a
fortune on
university
advertising.
When it is time
for enrolling,
like now, into
these hallowed
halls of ivy (We
don’t have ivy
but is sounds
good.) there are
full and ½ page
photos as well
as drawings on
page after page
of young people
having such a
good and eager
time to learn
everything from
medicine to
finance; which
might be all one
in the same?
Almost like
selling cars,
the private
schools offer
tuition loans to
be paid back
later, tuition
discounts for
enrolling NOW,
today that is,
free books,
quickie degrees,
study online,
learn at your
own pace, trade
in for credits,
life experience
credits, and
just about
everything else
a snake oil
sales person can
think of.
The same as in
US and Europe,
but per capita,
nothing so
intense like
here and I
always thought
we, Costa Rica,
were above all
that. Fool me
gain! Damn!
By taking the
median age of
Ticos at 27.1
years old, we
can be generous
and say 50% of
the 4.2 million
qualify just by
the age factor
for higher
education
studies. In
other words
roughly 2.1
million could
conceivably
become
university
graduates.
However to be
more correct and
we need to
narrow the field
a bit, we need
to make a few
adjustments.
First, we have
to knock off
from that list
the 5% who
cannot read or
write yet
thereby leaving
1.9+ million
candidates.
Still a big
number to
recruit, don’t
you think?
However, after
factoring in
high school drop
outs, those who
need to or
choose to work
instead of
study, that
population who
elects trade
schools over
academia , those
who cannot
afford higher
education, those
having families
to support or
simply do not
want to go to
the “U”, etc. or
who live in
rural areas
where there is
now “U”….the end
result is that
roughly only 15%
ever go on to
the U and that
means 55
universities are
marketing their
stuff to 285,000
wanna-be-scholars
all over Costa
Rica.
I have never
seen a published
ad of a student
who was not
having just a
fun time with
her/his study
pals. White
teeth and big
smiles, ear to
ear. They carry
books okay, but
look more like
as if it was
date time or
running off to
the movies and
yet still
becoming a
dentist by
morning.
Holy Cow! These
are not
students, these
are customers
and the schools
dare not piss
them off with
education.
“The rigors of
academia be
damned, what we
need is head
count.”
UCR and la
Universidad
Nacional
Autonoma (UNA),
both public
universities,
are ranked #15
and #29
respectively in
the top 100
universities in
Latin America
and have an
estimated
combined student
population of
58,000 students,
while the
Instituto
Tecnologico adds
another 6,000 to
the list of
public
university
student count.
The forgotten
public
university
founded by OAS,
la Universidad
Nacional Estatal
a Distancia is a
rare jewel that
pioneered
distance
learning
worldwide.
The left over go
to be fought
over by the
private
universities,
all 51 + of
them.
Is this a
“Degrees R Us”
society or what?
Do you want a 3
year med
graduate cutting
up your body or
injecting your
mouth with
Novocain? I
don’t think so!
Four years? It
is still a “No.”
Hell, my liberal
arts education
and I only got
to cut up a poor
frog without a
name, not a
human brain and
I wanted to
vomit then.
The only true
competition to
higher learning
are Costa Rica’s
infamous sports
books because as
soon as a young
person learns
enough English
that would make
her/him valuable
on the
international
market and they
tend to that
jobs earning
$6.00 maybe
$7.00 an hour,
swear to their
parents they
will soon return
to classes again
but more than
not purchase a
car instead and
get hooked on a
regular salary
that for Costa
Rica standards
pays great, not
to mention they
get to “hang”
with a lot of
cool people who
drive Hummers.
(If they got an
education they
would now know
that Hummer is
now owned by the
Chinese and not
such a status
symbol anymore,
right).
But, if you do
not speak
advanced
English, young
people have
their choice of
55 (4 public)
universities and
can attend a
private school
to become a
doctor of
medicine in as
little as 3
years or a
lawyer in two.
One private
university
claims to be
accredited in
the US by an
association
whose owner is
still being
chased in Hawaii
for fraud and
according to
www.ripoff.com.
The lady owner
works out of an
apartment in
Beverly Hills
cranking out
these paid for
accreditations.
Let there be no
mistake about
it, there are
only six
recognized
regional
accrediting
organizations in
the United
States and none,
zero Costa Rica
schools are
accredited by
any one of those
six since the
demise of the
National
University, MBA
program. It took
four years to
get that
acceptance and
in our terms,
that’s longer
than a
Guanacaste
luxury condo
project.
I know, because
I was one of the
three
co-founders of
the National
program with two
super legitimate
heroes, don Lalo
Gamez, three
times minister
of education,
and Lic. Helio
Munoz, director
of the then ITAN
which is now
VERITAS and I
was a full
professor at a
UACA school of
business. That’s
my job, teaching
and I do love
it, really do.
Costa Rica
accreditation is
NOT by school
but by subject
matter.
Translated that
means all those
MBAs running
around are not
accredited by
anything except
perhaps
themselves.
While one of the
accrediting
commissions
might say O.K.
to the field of
education, that
does not mean
the school’s
medical
graduates, or
psych graduates
are up to
whatever
standards are
applied.
As a way to
express market
competition we
use the word
moat (Remoso)
call it what you
want because the
competition is
fearsome here
and it does not
take Donald
Trump to declare
Costs Rica
private
education as a
really small
moat.
Some schools of
higher learning
do offer
knowledge as a
base subject,
but many, many,
do not. Please
remember and
never forget
that education
is about the
only thing
nobody can every
take away from
you, so why not
make it good?
Business,
government each
depend on
national
education, they
depend on
ethical
innovation, they
depend on
management
sciences and
they depend on
critical
thinking just as
much as they
depend on the
bottom line.
Because that’s
how you get
there.
“The only goal
of a business is
to create
clients/customers
while every
other activity
inside the
organization is
a cost. Profit
is a report card
that measures
how well
business has
been managed,
nothing more.” (
Dr. Peter F.
Drucker)
Sadly, Costa
Rican
institutions do
not teach all
that.
In my not so
humble opinion,
Costa Rica
universities are
light years
behind the
curve. We fail
to teach
thinking but
what we do teach
is how to take
tests which
never, ever
reflect the real
life and that
might be why
with a $83
million new
stadium there is
no plan nor
budget for up
keep, or why it
took 40 years to
build a road
from Quepos to
Dominical? More
important, that
after so many
promises, there
is only one
lady, no
telephone,
taking
complaints
against corrupt
traffic cops.
*John Holtz is the Executive Director of
theCenter for
the Studies of
Modern
Management
www.modernmanagement.org and can
be reached at:
[email protected].
(Sources:
World Fact Book,
Wikipedia.org, 4
International
Colleges &
University, UCR,
UNA UNED)
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