Approximately 590,000 students enroll in public universities each year and approximately 2,300,000 attend university courses.
Traditional careers have once again set the trend for enrollment for public and private universities for the 2021 cycle, although some of them show an increase in the choice of medical sciences – especially healthcare – and psychology, two professions considered essential in the fight against the pandemic.
According to a survey conducted by Télam among various universities, it was also observed that the enrollment level was maintained and even exceeded the level of 2020, despite the difficult year experienced by students due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
In this regard, the consulted rectors assured that the postponement until November of this year of the presentation of the certificates of completion of secondary education, ordered by the national government, favored the enrollment of students.
The enrollment level was maintained and even exceeded that of 2020, despite the difficult year experienced by students”
Delfina Veiravé, the rector of the North-East National University (UNNE) and the president of the National Interuniversity Council (CIN), told Télam that in the house of study he leads “there was the same level of enrollment as last year. Some races had more (annotated) and others less, but interest in traditional careers, including medicine, has been maintained. “
The head of the body that brings together all public universities explained that this year “support programs for students coming from high school will be intensified”, among other reasons – he added – “because we know (of the existence) heterogeneity in learning due to lack of resources connectivity that occurred last year ”, especially among students in vulnerable situations.
In this regard, Veiravé stressed that, “based on what universities are already doing, courses and tutorials will be intensified to help students in their first year of career.”
Veiravé also stressed that this year “the documentation required for admission will be more flexible, as the presentation of high school completion certificates will be extended until November 2021, which will benefit students.”
About 590,000 students enroll in Argentine public universities each year and about 2,300,000 are studying for university degrees, according to the latest report from the Secretariat for University Policy, which also points out that 33.5 percent are between 17 and 19 years and 23.2 percent choose careers related to science and technology.
Hannibal Viguera, academic secretary of the University of La Plata, told Télam that the first enrollment trends represent a higher number of new participants than last year, when they reached 32,000, and this figure has been exceeded by 500 so far.
“We believe that in February the number of applicants will increase even more and medical careers, such as healthcare, kinesiology and nutrition, will be the ones that will concentrate the largest number of applicants,” said Viguera.
Approximately 590,000 students enroll in Argentine public universities per year and approximately 2,300,000 are those pursuing university degrees”
He also said that “it is still too early to know if the motivation of students for medical careers is related to the pandemic, but at UNLP, since the admission to medicine was issued, this career leads the number of new entrants.”
“We doubted that many boys would enroll in university after the pandemic,” Viguera said, assuring that the fact that he did not have to present a high school graduation certificate this year “favored enrollment.”
Regarding the academic support given to the new participants, the academic secretary of UNLP assured that “the number of enrollees has tripled” in that house of studies, which has 17 faculties and 115 careers.
Enrolled in medical sciences at UNLP totals 5,238 so far. In the UBA they assured that until the completion of the registration in the CBC at the end of February they could not have consolidated data of the registration applicants.
In December last year, public universities received funding from the national government for tutorials, strengthening technological equipment, conducting research and expanding the university, and then, within their autonomy, universities established their own strategies.
For his part, Alejandro Villar, rector of the National University of Quilmes (Unqui) assured Télam that, “despite the pandemic, the student retention rate was quite high”.
He also stressed that the same number of students remains as last year, the nurse’s career being “one of the students’ favorites.
Villar stressed that “there is a lot of uncertainty about how the school year 2021 will develop. At Unqui it will be the first months in a totally virtual way and we have the usual guidance programs for students.”
“We don’t know how the students will end up after a year of pandemic, we have to see it on the fly and work on it in the first quarter,” he revealed.
In the case of private universities, the increase in enrollment has been more pronounced, and careers in healthcare and psychology are most in demand.
Sources from Austral University pointed out that there has been a 40% increase in the number of registrations compared to previous years, especially in the field of Biomedical Sciences, Nursing and Medicine “and there has also been a” higher influx in psychology “.
Meanwhile, at the Inter-American Open University (IAU), “this year’s demand in psychology has been very strong, which has left no room for any headquarters,” said spokesmen for that university.