The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved an $81.5 million loan to increase the percentage of students accessing and graduating from higher education in Colombia.
The program will adopt strategies to promote the transition from secondary to higher education, strengthen student retention in the educational system, and improve the quality management of higher education institutions.
The Program for Immediate Transit to Higher Education (PTIES, for its name in Spanish) will benefit at least 22,700 11th-grade students and graduates. Additionally, technical assistance will be provided to around 100 private and public higher education institutions, and 57 public institutions will receive funding to implement their permanence plans.
Some barriers identified for the transition to higher education include low academic performance, students lacking information on admission and financing processes, and economic vulnerability. In turn, the concentration of higher education institutions in large cities increases the cost of education for young people in rural areas.
The loan, approved by the IDB's Board of Executive Directors, will finance the design and implementation of PTIES, which will be implemented in 72 sub-regions of the country with rural municipalities where transition rate to higher education is lower than the national average.
The program will support the reduction of student desertion through the strengthening of permanence plans and strategies. These include detecting students at risk of dropping out, studying dropout factors, implementing academic leveling and vocational orientation programs, and social accompaniment, among others.
The operation will also improve the quality management of higher education offerings by strengthening the higher education quality assurance system. They project will also simplify processes and increase the interoperability of information systems, among other things.
The $81.5 million IDB loan has a five-year disbursement period, a six-year grace period, a 24-year amortization period, and an interest rate based on SOFR.
About the IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public- and private-sector clients throughout the region. Take our virtual tour.
Cavelier,Andres
Planes,Maria Soledad
Colombia and the IDB
The Country Office of Colombia supports the policy areas that contribute to achieving the long-term vision of transforming Colombia into a high-income country with social mobility, aligned with the current National Development Plan (PND), which prioritizes institution-strengthening, inclusive economic growth based on higher productivity, poverty reduction and social development.
Project Information
Program to improve access and graduation in higher education
Multiplying Learning: Remote Tutoring to Enhance Schooling
A phone call has the potential to transform each student's relationship with their learning. This publication seeks to make learning acceleration programs visible as a promising and structural solution to face the learning crisis that Latin America and the Caribbean is experiencing today.