Education in the Spanish-speaking world This discussion board is intended to help you learn about education outside of the United States. This assignment fulfills/supports • Module Outcome : You will have learned about education in the Spanish-speaking world . Course Outcome: You will have demonstrated some knowledge of Hispanic civilization and culture • General Education Competency you will have created a brief composition in English. Resources For this assignment, you will need external sources. You have a wide variety of choices in what sources you use: books, magazines, documentaries, etc. Most of you will probably choose to use websites, and that is fine. You may NOT use Wikipedia. Regardless of the sources you choose, you must remember two things if you wish to receive credit: you must cite all sources, and you must paraphrase everything you write. If you copy and paste, you will not receive credit, even if you have correctly cited your source. (Remember that the purpose of this activity is to learn something about education outside of the United States, not to test your ability to use Google and CTRL+C.) Specific websites which you may find help + include: III o < Module outcome. You will have learned about education in the Spanish-speaking world • Course Outcome: You will have demonstrated some knowledge of Hispanic civilization and culture • General Education Competency you will have created a brief composition in English. Resources For this assignment, you will need external sources. You have a wide variety of choices in what sources you use: books, magazines, documentaries, etc. Most of you will probably choose to use websites, and that is fine. You may NOT use Wikipedia. Regardless of the sources you choose, you must remember two things if you wish to receive credit: you must cite all sources, and you must paraphrase everything you write. If you copy and paste, you will not receive credit, even if you have correctly cited your source. (Remember that the purpose of this activity is to learn something about education outside of the United States, not to test your ability to use Google and CTRL+C.) Specific websites which you may find helpful include: Universidad Autonoma de Mexico Universidad de Buenos Aires Universidad Complutense de Madrid Universidad Nacional Costa Rica + III O r There should be a minimum of TWO sources listed and properly cited. If not cited correctly, grade will reflect it. See Note above. The Prompt Examine the four websites listed above. Compare and contrast the institutions of higher learning described in these articles with comparable institutions in the United States. Remember not to use Wikipedia as a source. Don't waste time just listing factoids about these institutions. Really discuss what you find similar or different to our universities.
 

There are some surprising facts about universities in the Spanish-speaking world, especially related to the size of the universities and the quality of education. We were given four universities in Spanish-speaking countries: Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), and Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica (UNA). Three of these universities are located in Latin America while the Madrid university is located in Spain. Probably the thing that amazed me more was the size of these organizations. The UNAM and UBA are huge universities. The UNAM has 366,930 students and 41,542 professors (National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2021), while the UBA has 308,748 students and 28,232 professors (UBA, 2021). The largest university in the United States by enrollment is Texas A&M and it has 70,997 students and 6,221 professors (Lynch, 2021). It is a big university, but it is dwarfed by these two giant institutions. The smallest university is the UNA with only 18,858, but I think that is due to Costa Rica’s very small population (Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, 2021).

Probably one of the reasons why these universities have so many students is that they don’t charge tuition or they charge almost nothing. The cost paid in the UNAM is US$21 when a student is admitted. The UBA is supposedly free also, as well as the UNA. The Spanish university also charges a very small amount per year. Students pay less than 25 euros for each course that they take (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2021). On the other hand, Texas A&M is a state university and its tuition costs US$10,968 per year on average (Lynch, 2021). Another factor that I believe might help to increase the number of students enrolled is that the three universities in Latin America offer scholarships. I’m not really sure how that works, but I think that they pay students to study or give them free room and boarding. It is hard to understand what type of scholarships are needed in a university that doesn’t charge tuition.

Besides the huge size of these organizations, another thing that surprised me was that the UBA is considered one of the best universities in the world. It is actually ranked as the 69^th best university (QS World Universities Rankings, 2021) and only 21 American universities have a higher ranking. The best raked American universities are MIT (#1), Stanford, Harvard, Caltech, and Chicago. There are also 156 American universities ranked below the UBA. Almost all of the universities ranked ahead of the UBA belong to the Ivy League or are located in California. It is a very good university considering the fact that anyone can try to get in by taking a course called the CBC (ciclo basico comun). Actually, last year almost 70,000 students enrolled in the CBC but only 35% passed and could stay in the university (UBA, 2021). It is hard to imagine a university that gives everyone a chance to get in, and still, it is one of the best in the world. American universities are much more expensive, especially most of the ones ranked higher than the UBA, and they have an admittance process that accepts or rejects prospective students. No American university accepts everyone or gives every student the chance to prove that they are good students.

One thing that I found interesting about the UNA is that 60% of its graduates are females. It shows how much effort the country puts into programs designed to decrease inequalities between men and women. The UBA and UCM also promote gender equality in their websites, which means it is a very important topic for them. I believe that universities in Spanish-speaking countries provide a more equal opportunity to study and eventually get a degree than American universities. The websites of the four universities put a lot of emphasis on providing a chance to improve the lives of their students.