IDB invests in Peru’s virtual education pioneer

While giants like ITESM and UNext are staking out a global market for virtual higher education, Peru’s Asociación Promotora de Institutos Tecnológicos Superiores (TECSUP) is using the Internet to meet pent-up demand within the country’s borders.

TECSUP is a private provider of technical and business education founded in 1982. Created by Peruvian industrialists to help alleviate shortages of skilled labor, TECSUP is widely known for delivering high-quality training and development courses for technical personnel. A total of 175 national enterprises have donated more than $18 million for TECSUP’s operation, and entrepreneurs actively participate in defining the institution’s mission and methods.

TECSUP offers three-year programs that confer a technical degree, as well as individual courses in areas ranging from management skills and computer programming to the installation, operation and maintenance of industrial equipment. TECSUP also offers short-term technical development courses for those who are already part of the work force and need to sharpen their skills. So far, a total of 1,136 short-term training courses have been delivered to 18,700 students.

Though TECSUP has campuses in Lima and Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city, its faculty has long been aware of the need to reach students who cannot commute to these locations. To that end, in 1999 TECSUP became the first Peruvian educational institution to launch a virtual campus. TECSUP obtained assistance from the curriculum experts at ITESM and the Open University of Cataluña (Spain) in course design, and it has signed a cooperation agreement with the Madrid Polytechnic University to accredit its distance education courses.

Today 437 technical workers are enrolled in the 38 different Internet training courses provided by TECSUP Virtual. More than 1,600 students have already completed virtual courses. The virtual campus enables students to take courses at their convenience from home, their workplace, TECSUP’s facilities or the public Internet kiosks that are rapidly becoming available throughout the country. Approximately 40 percent of TECSUP’s distance continuing education students login to the campus network from work, 30 percent from public kiosks and 20 percent from home. Roughly 40 percent of the students enrolled in the virtual campus are from Lima and the remainder live in 67 other localities throughout the country.

TECSUP’s Internet courses generally last seven weeks. Students are able to read course materials, perform self-evaluations, participate in debates with other students, and communicate with the teacher through the Internet. Students pace themselves and study at any time, but they are required to take a final exam in person at a specified TECSUP testing center. The teaching staff takes part in a continual training program on virtual teaching methodologies in order to respond more effectively to the needs of online students.

Although TECSUP Virtual has grown in tandem with the rapid expansion of Internet access in Peru, it is very far from meeting the full demand for in-service training of workers. To help finance ongoing expansion of online programs, the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund last year approved a $1 million grant for TECSUP (See link at right to read a brief description of this project). With these resources, TECSUP Virtual expects to enroll an additional 7,900 technical workers and 840 students pursuing technical degrees in the next three years.

Mario Rivera Orams, TECSUP’s general director, says the IDB grant will enable his staff to develop new courses, sign up more students in Peru’s remote interior provinces, and improve the public perception of Internet-based education. "It will also help us to narrow the digital gap by promoting increased access to information technology and offering equal opportunities for development all over Peru," says Rivera.

This article was adapted from a paper written by IDB education specialists Larry Wolff and Norma García, with additional reporting by Jorge Zavaleta in the IDB’s country office in Peru.