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Short-cycle higher education programs form skilled human capital in two or three years and are eminently oriented to the labor market. While they could play a key role in the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce required for employment recovery after the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic, they will only do so if their supply responds fast and nimbly to the skill needs to local labor markets. This paper studies the entry, competition, and turnover of short-cycle higher education programs (SCPs) in Colombia. It documents a large expansion in the number of programs over the past fifteen years and studies the frequency of program entry and exit.

It finds that the market for SCPs is more dynamic than the market for bachelor's programs, as it exhibits greater turnover or 'churn' of programs, with a significantly higher rate of program entry and exit in a given year. Exploiting data on local productivity and employment by field of study, the paper finds that SCPs are more responsive than bachelor's programs to changes in local labor demand. Among SCP providers, private and non-university institutions respond the most to the local economy. SCP entry is deterred by the presence of competitors and responds to cost considerations, particularly among private institutions. For a given institution, exit and entry decisions are highly correlated within a field of study. While enrollment is sensitive to the number of competitors, institutions differentiate their product by tuition, field, and geographic coverage. Overall, the evidence suggests that SCPs might indeed respond fast and nimbly to the local labor market needs created by the pandemic.

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Higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has expanded dramatically in the new millennium, yet enrollment in short-cycle programs (SCPs) is still relatively low. Shorter and more practical than bachelor's programs, SCPs can form skilled human capital fast. The economic crisis created by the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated underlying trends, such as automation, the use of electronic platforms, and the need for lifelong learning. Addressing these demands requires the urgent upskilling and reskilling of the population - a task for which SCPs are uniquely suited. This publication explores the labor market outcomes and returns of SCPs, examines their providers, and identifies the practices adopted by the best programs.

Relying on unique data that includes a novel survey of SCP directors in five LAC countries [Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Peru], it finds that while SCPs generate, on average, good labor market outcomes, they vary greatly in quality. SCP providers respond quickly and flexibly to local economy needs; and specific practices related to faculty, job search assistance, and interaction with prospective employers are distinctive of the best programs. Drawing on these findings, this publication discusses how to create an environment where good programs are offered and students have the interest and means to attend them. It draws attention to a higher education sector that has been typically overlooked, both in research and policy.

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This article discusses governance issues, the role of work-based learning and private sector's participation to facilitate the transition from training to work. Advantages and disadvantages of work-based learning are presently not sufficiently considered in developing and transition countries. This entails governance and implementation of work-based learning and the consequences for world of work-related competencies and for the learners. Donors and researchers address mostly public vocational education and training (VET) structures. This makes cooperation easier, but it neglects an important share of formal and nonformal training activities. The contribution of the private sector as a recognised social partner to transition is still not very well considered in approaches for more efficient VET governance and for better pathways to employment. Future research should analyse the multifacets in private sector's participation to create recognised and legal forms of social partnerships. The article contributes to this question analysing as well some basic principles of work-based learning.

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The outbreak of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic hit the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region hard, deepening existing problems. Among those most affected are young people, as educational institutions were closed for long periods and distance education was not possible everywhere. In this context, the value of pre-apprenticeship programmes (PaPs) as a powerful tool to promote quality learning becomes more important. Pre-apprenticeships are programmes mainly focusing on preparing participants to meet the requirements of (quality) apprenticeships and being able to successfully start an apprenticeship after the program. They have a narrow focus on bridging the gap between compulsory education and apprenticeships, in case compulsory education did not prepare adequately. Consequently PaPs do not aim at a direct labor market entry. However, depending on the target group, PaPs may also have the function of making up deficits caused by having dropped out of school.

This publication aim is to provide a starting point for a transformation process in the vocational education and training (VET) systems in LAC, to offer attractive educational solutions for different groups of young people and to lay a solid foundation for developing future skilled workforce that meets the requirements of the private sector translating into growing economies in the region. The five key messages of this publication are: (1) most importantly, pre-apprenticeships are the 'feeder' of quality apprenticeships and 'heal' shortcomings from compulsory schools to smoothen the transition to quality apprenticeships; (2) pre-apprenticeship programs should help to expand existing initiatives of quality apprenticeships in the region because they increase the pool of qualified candidates and, therefore, may lead to more interest on the side of the employer; (3) pre-apprenticeships have the potential to help tackling some of the existing problems in the region like skills gaps, low graduation rates from secondary education, low permeability in the education system, fewer chances for vulnerable groups, high drop-out rates in VET and child labor; (4) the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is demanding for a new and innovative solution like PaPs and for acting now, because many of the problems mentioned have intensified in the crisis; and (5) the inspiring example from Mexico, as well as the reports from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Paraguay, illustrate and validate the concept of PaPs that are proposed in this publication and confirm that PaPs might be the missing piece in the puzzle for VET in the region.

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Changing political, economic, and social expectations of the role of postsecondary education are reinforcing new institutional forms that offer a combination of academic, vocational, career-oriented, technological, and specialist programs at certificate, diploma, or associate or bachelor degree levels. The harmonization of higher education systems has become a reality for academically oriented colleges and universities, enabling international mobility for students enrolled in bachelor and masters programs. In contrast, national differences in lower tertiary institutions are vast to the extent that there is a lack of universal nomenclature to describe vocational-technical education or lower tertiary education that prepares students for skilled and specialized labor. Within this sector are institutions that are known by several names including College of Further Education, Community Colleges, Polytechnics, Technical College/University, and TAFE (Technical and Further Education). In the interests of finding a common ground in order to reflect on common as well as different challenges in varied national contexts, these institutions are being called community colleges. This is not to suggest that the US variant of community colleges, or any other type of lower tertiary education system, should be adopted in other parts of the world.

This handbook of comparative studies explores the complexities of the institutions in this sector in terms of institutional profile, mission, economic impact, governance, curriculum, faculty, assessment, the role that these institutions are playing in achieving societal equity and in postcompletion student pathways, and the complexities of transnational educational borrowing. The first volume focuses on philosophical, economic, and cultural adaptations as well as elements of success in terms of achieving equity. The second volume focuses on faculty, curriculum, assessment, internationalization, innovations, and postcompletion pathways. While not including every country with a community college or global counterpart, it does examine institutions in 24 countries and six regions to show how this educational sector is serving populations. In addition, several chapters in the book focus on different educational issues within the same country to illustrate the complexity of the sector.

Edited excerpts from publication.

The contents are as follows: Volume 1, 'Building a higher educational sector', contains the following chapter: Building a higher educational sector: volume introduction / Rosalind Latiner Raby and Edward J. Valeau; Part I, 'Globalization: mission, market commodity, and the philosophical role', contains: Community colleges and global counterparts: defining a higher educational sector / Rosalind Latiner Raby and Edward J. Valeau; The changing shape of further and higher education in the UK / Martin Jephcote; TAFE in Australia / Mike Brown [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 133.188]; Sustainability of massification in East Asian higher education: community colleges in Hong Kong in retrospect and prospects / Hei-Hang Hayes Tang, Chak-Pong Gordon Tsui, and Chi-Fung Wilton Chau; Transnational education policy and a globally competitive workforce: a comparative analysis of vocational education and training policy in the European Union and the United States / M. Allison Witt; Developments in the postsecondary education niche in South Africa / Cassie Kruger and Charl C. Wolhuter; Economics of education in Afghanistan: expanding academic programs based on market demands dictated by international agency funds toward self-sustainability / Audree Chase-Mayoral and Fayaz Amiri; Part II, 'Institutional and cultural adaptations', contains: From pilot project to permanent status: community colleges in Vietnam / Mary Beth Marklein and Mai Van Tinh; Developing community education: a new model of community colleges in Mainland China / Yi Leaf Zhang; Reenvisioning community colleges in Nepal: preparing all students for success / Krishna Bista and Uttam Gaulee; Translating the community college concept in India / Jillian Gross.

Part III, 'Theories on achieving equity: philosophy and practice', contains the following chapters: Center and periphery in Israel's higher education / Nitza Davidovitch and Dan Soen; Second-tier higher education institutions and the diversity challenge: structural components adopted through a Germanic lens / Martina Gaisch and Regina Aichinger; Analyzing the media narratives in South Africa's #FeesMustFall movement / Kristin Bailey Wilson and Wouter Van Alebeek; Further education colleges in the United Kingdom: providing education for other people's children / Kevin Orr; Part IV, 'Class, race, and gender inequalities: implications for educational opportunities', contains: Academic education of Israeli Arabs: transitions from 2006 to 2016 and the impact on their social integration / Nitza Davidovitch, Dan Soen, and Yaacov Iram; Challenges and opportunities: community college development in Afghanistan: serving students and gender equity / David J. Roof; Why the TVET system of French-speaking African countries is not able to produce a highly qualified and operational man power?: a comparison with Canadian community colleges / Efia R. Assignon; Technical education in Colombia between expansion and legitimacy: a neo-institutional perspective / Pedro Pineda and Jorge Celis.

Volume 2, 'Structural components: the challenges of change', contains the following chapters: Structural components: the challenges of change: volume introduction / Rosalind Latiner Raby and Edward J. Valeau; Part V, 'Curriculum, program assessment, and quality assurance', contains: Functions, organization, and contemporary challenges of the American community college / Arthur M. Cohen and Carrie B. Kisker; Evaluation of teaching and learning outcomes in health systems management studies, the case of Israel: ideal versus actual / Rachel Nissanholtz-Gannot and Nitza Davidovitch; Linking internationalization to student success: voices from stakeholders / Jacqueline M. Copeland; Evolution of community colleges in Thailand: from formal establishment to the present time / Pattanida Punthumasen and Takayoshi Maki; Feasibility and challenges on a national qualifications framework and permeability in education and training system in Japan / Keiichi Yoshimoto; Quality assurance in China's new public higher education institutions: achievements, challenges, and illustrative case studies / Qing Hui Wang; Part VI, 'Internationalization: designing curricular, mobility, and partnerships opportunities', contains: Enablers and constrainers of internationalization of higher education institutions: a case study from Portugal / Anabela Mesquita and Olimpio Castilho; The internationalization of vocational education in Brazil's federal institutes: another model / Marcelo Camilo and David Shallenberger; A horse of a different color?: reexamining international students at community colleges in the USA and Canada / Jonathan Z. Friedman; Vietnam and higher education internationalization: the promise of community colleges / Kayla Whitney, Lisa Reid, and Bernhard Streitwieser; Promoting green skills in the Caribbean: a Grenada-Canada partnership to educate and train the sustainable development practitioner for the twenty-first century / Pierre-Luc Gagnon and John N. Telesford.

Part VII, 'Innovation: adaptation to education needs of the learner', contains the following chapters: Adult learning in Italy: historical context and perspectives for a new provision / Luisa Daniele, Claudio Franzosi, and Domenico Nobili; Meeting the challenges of globalization while preserving institutional singularity: the case of Quebec CEGEPs / Olivier Begin-Caouette; Roles of community college for community development in Malaysia: entrepreneurship education program / Wan Naliza Wan Jaafar and Takayoshi Maki; The community college branch campus at Kuwait: meeting needs of the people and of industry / Carol Ross; Educational reform through sponsored projects in Curacao: government-sponsored technical and career institutions, postsecondary education, and the challenges of workforce development / Rosita Tormala-Nita; Upgrading polytechnic in Namibia to the Namibia University of Science and Technology and the post-secondary education niche in Namibia / Sarala Krishnamurthy and Charl C. Wolhuter; Part VIII, 'Pathways post-completion: career advancement, university transfer, and baccalaureate degrees', contains: Developing a skilled workforce through technical and vocational education and training in the Philippines / Kiran S. Budhrani, Mark M. D'Amico, and Jose Lloyd D. Espiritu; Fostering creative, practical, and professional engineers: National Institute of Technology (KOSEN) in Japan / Asami Shimoda and Takayoshi Maki; The community college concept and youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) / Shahrzad Kamyab; When the walls come tumbling down: a case study of community colleges within a Canadian high mobility postsecondary system / Ralf St. Clair, Joanne Heslop, and Nicole Greengoe; Dimensions of collaboration between community colleges and universities in facilitating attainment of baccalaureate degrees in career and technical education / Michael L. Skolnik; Concluding chapter: Community colleges and global counterparts as evolving forms / Edward J. Valeau and Rosalind Latiner Raby. Show less

The authors of this report synthesized findings from a 10-month investigation of the secondary education school-to-work transition in Colombia, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. FHI 360 and the Results for Development (R4D) developed this study to advance an understanding of the region's growing 'skills gap' and to identify innovative models and mechanisms that promote youth employability. The report draws from in-country interviews with students, teachers, employers and public officials to connect issues regarding formal education and workforce development. The authors address these key questions in the skills gap debate: Which skills are needed for employability in Latin America and the Caribbean? What skills do students currently acquire in the formal education system? What innovative delivery models are currently used to improve skill acquisition and youth employability?

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The increase in female labor force participation is among the most salient economic and social transformations in the world over the last fifty years, and Latin America is no exception. In this regard, the gender gap in educational attainment has not only narrowed, but it has reversed itself in most countries of the region. Despite this, two important gaps remain. First, wages of female workers are, on average, thirty per cent lower than those of males. Second, a high degree of occupational and educational segregation remains, with men and women being concentrated in different fields of occupations and study. This study pilots a comprehensive female-targeted computer programming training (bootcamp) in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Bogota, Colombia. Bootcamps have become a policy instrument to tackle the following two objectives. First, they provide training on coding skills at a time when the rapid spread of new digital technologies is increasing demand for such skills. Second, when training on coding skills is specifically targeted toward women, it reduces the gender gap in terms of access to effective training on coding skills.

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Purpose: The literature has defined different indicators of training effectiveness. At the performance indicator level of analysis, training effectiveness measures the impact of training on knowledge, skills and job performance. This paper aims to analyse, from the perspective of managers and employees from the hotel sector in Colombia, the relationships between the improvement of knowledge and skills and the improvement of job performance. Design/methodology/approach: The research technique used is a survey. Data are collected from a sample of managers and a sample of employees from the Colombian hospitality industry. The hypotheses are contrasted through regression analysis.

Findings: From the managers' perspective, the data indicate a significant relationship between the improvement of knowledge and work performance. In contrast, there is no significant relationship between improving skills and improving job performance. From the employees' perspective, significant relationships between the improvement of knowledge and the improvement of skills in job performance are revealed. Originality/value: This work makes significant contributions to the training literature. It analyses the relationships among indicators of training effectiveness from the point of view of managers and employees from the Colombian hotel sector. It reveals differences between the perspectives of managers and employees.

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As opportunities expand, Colombians will need new and better skills to respond to new challenges and prospects. The government is therefore determined to address key challenges confronting tertiary education in the country: expanding enrolment and improving equity, increasing quality and relevance, and making governance and finance more responsive. Colombia has more than a decade of progress under its belt, and the energy to reach ambitious policy goals. Getting there in practice will involve dialogue and consensus-seeking among all stakeholders, as well as new resources and new rules.

The chapters are as follows: Executive summary; Overview, achievements and issues; Vision, structure, governance and management of the Colombian tertiary education system; Access and equity to tertiary education in Colombia; Quality and relevance of tertiary education in Colombia; Quality assurance of the Colombian tertiary education system; Internationalisation of the Colombian tertiary education system; Research and innovation in Colombia; Information and transparency in Colombia’s tertiary education system; Financing of tertiary education in Colombia; Conclusions and recommendations. Show less

To stimulate economic advancement, low- and middle-income countries need well-educated and trained workforces to fill the types of skilled jobs that drive economic growth. Improving educational quality and attainment and providing better training are all rightly put forth as policy recommendations to leverage economic growth and job creation. However, new findings based on large scale surveys of adult skills from the World Bank Group's STEP (Skills toward Employment and Productivity) Skills Measurement Program suggest that many workers are overqualified for their current jobs (based on the education those jobs require). The results of this study suggest that countries may not reap as much benefit from their investments in quality education and training if weak job creation leaves workers' skills underutilized. Most of the literature on mismatch focuses on higher-income countries and rates of over-education among college graduates.

This publication uses new STEP Skills Survey data from 12 low- and middle-income countries, representing a range of economic and educational and training climates, to better understand the scope and patterns of education and skills mismatch. STEP collects information not only on workers' level of education and employment status, but also on the types, frequency, and durations of tasks they carry out at their jobs as well as some of the cognitive skills they use. The study also explores additional factors such as gender, health, career stage, and participation in the informal labor sector that may help explain the degree of mismatch rates. The study's findings indicate that over-education is common in low and middle income countries with both lower and higher rates of educational attainment. There is also evidence that over-educated tertiary workers do not use all of their skills, potentially wasting valuable human capital and educational resources. The authors suggest that job growth must go hand-in-hand with investments in education and training.

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