(This system is in place in parts of the US system--primarily in some
community colleges. Some students do very well in community college and some
do not for a variety of reasons including aptitude. Hugo assumes all
students have the same aptitude, which is non-sensical. The proof of this is
requirements for "literacy classes." In higher education? This sounds like
a recipe for chaos. MG)
http://www.bloomber
Venezuela to Eliminate University Entrance Exams, Acuna Says
By Jose Orozco
April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela will seek to eliminate college
entrance exams next year as part of a plan to make education more
accessible, said Luis Acuna, the country's minister for higher
education.
Acuna said the new system may include aptitude and vocational testing
that he will leave to ``education experts'' to design. A system that
relies solely on knowledge-based entrance exams creates unequal access
to education, he said.
``We don't agree with any system that includes a cognitive test,''
Acuna, 61, said in an interview at his Caracas office.
The dispute is the latest fight for control over one of the few
remaining institutions that haven't fallen under the full authority of
President Hugo Chavez, said Ricardo Sucre, a political consultant.
University leaders such as Benjamin Sharifker, president of the Simon
Bolivar University in Caracas, said the plan is an attack on academic
autonomy and politically motivated. The government may be trying to
clamp down on schools ahead of this year's state and municipal
elections after students helped defeat President Hugo Chavez's
December referendum to rewrite the constitution.
Chavez says education is at the center of his political project,
funding initiatives that offer literacy classes and degree programs.
University enrollment more than doubled to 1.6 million since Chavez
came to power in 1998, according to the higher education ministry.
Taking Control
The government has systematically assumed full authority at strategic
institutions, including a purge of the military after a failed 2002
coup attempt that briefly ousted Chavez and firing more than 18,000
workers at the state oil company during the oil strike at the end of
2002, Sucre said.
Public universities reached an agreement this week with the government
to continue using their own exams this year while a new system is
developed.
Eliminating exams may compromise educational standards, Sharifker
said. Non-public universities are exempt from the government's plan,
according Luis Fuenmayor, an adviser to Office of University Planning,
a mixed academic and government body.
``There's no agreement,'' said Acuna, who said in the April 3
interview before leading a street rally in Caracas of government
supporters in favor of the new admissions system. ``Some universities
in Venezuela have turned into very conservative bastions.''
Critics say the government is using education programs to coerce
political support from students, said Leonardo Carvajal, a professor
at the Universidad Catolitca Andres Bello. The programs serve as a
political recruiting tool, offering an educational opportunity and a
monthly stipend in exchange for political support, Carvajal said.
`Social Justice'
Acuna said the government is trying to offer ``social justice'' to the
poor, who have been excluded from the higher education system for
decades.
The same students who participated in last year's student protests
against Chavez's referendum have rallied around the issue of autonomy.
Yon Goicoechea, a student leader at the Universidad Catolica Andres
Bello, said students are prepared to fight the measure.
``This is going to heat up,'' said Goicoechea. ``We are going to
defend university autonomy. They can close the universities because we
are not going to stand for it.''
Chavez called those involved in the student movement ``mama's boys''
last year as they led protests against the constitutional overhaul,
branding them a tool of the Venezuelan opposition. He formed his own
pro-government student group.
``The university is fundamental to the revolutionary process,'' said
Acuna. ``The country needs quality professionals centered on
socialist, humanist concepts.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Jose Orozco in Caracas at
jorozco8@bloomberg.
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