O.4 On Average, SCPs in LAC Have Good Curriculum, Infrastructure, and Faculty—but with Much Variation

Table O. 4 On Average, SCPs in LAC Have Good Curriculum, Infrastructure, and Faculty—but with Much Variation

Program characteristic Mean S.D.

Curriculum is fixed (%) 70.19 45.75

Teaches cognitive competencies (%) Teaches socioemotional competencies (%) Offers remediation during the program (%) Percent of time assigned to practical training Internships outside institution are mandatory (%) 79.34 40.49

94.69 22.42

57.55 49.44

46.70 16.86

57.75 49.41

Number of students per lab or workshop Did not teach online classes before pandemic (%) 59.43 133.25

65.64 47.50

Student-faculty ratio Percent of part-time faculty Percent of faculty with more than 5 years of experience Percent of faculty working in the industry Percent of faculty with a bachelor’s degree 13.30 23.28

61.54 30.28

55.74 33.12

42.13 30.92

82.11 29.50

Evaluate faculty at least once a year (%) 86.32 34.37 Almost all/all faculty had professional training in the previous year (%) 54.83 49.78 HEI has a governing body beyond rector/provost (%) 89.13 31.13

Source: World Bank Short-Cycle Program Survey (WBSCPS). Note: The table shows the mean and standard deviation of some program characteristics related to curriculum and training, infrastructure, faculty, and governance, as reported by program directors. WBSCPS includes only São Paulo and Ceará for Brazil, and licensed programs for Peru. HEI = higher education institution; LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean; SCP = short-cycle program; S.D. = standard deviation.

COVID-19 pandemic and, among the online programs, quality is uneven—it is higher, for instance, in synchronous programs. Thus, the adjustment to online teaching may have posed a significant challenge for the programs in the region.

In general, the programs have low student-to-faculty ratios. Most instructors are part time, with substantive industry experience and good academic qualifications. Most are evaluated at least once a year based on multiple criteria, including student evaluations, faculty peer evaluations, and class planning assessment. About half of them provided professional training to all or almost all of their faculty in the previous year. Most programs are provided by HEIs that have a governing body beyond the rector/provost, thereby giving a voice to multiple stakeholders such as faculty, students, and firms.

On average, the programs engage with industry and assist students in their job search (figure O.12). They assign a specific person (board member, program director, or staff) to interact with firms. They tend to have internship agreements with private companies, which often provide equipment for practice, train faculty, collaborate in curriculum design or student evaluation, and have agreements to hire program graduates. The programs communicate with firms to find out their needs and request feedback on recent hires from the program.

Figure O.12 On Average, SCP Programs in LAC Engage with Industry and Assist Students in Their Job Search

Firms provide internships Program assigns person for industry relations Program collects graduates' employment data Firms help design curriculum / evaluate students Program elicits needs of local firms frequently Firms provide equipment for training Program collects data on employers’ satisfaction Firms agree to hire graduates Firms train faculty Program provides job market information Program trains students for job interviews Program arranges job interviews with firms Program runs employment center

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Percent

Job search assistance Industry engagement

Source: World Bank Short-Cycle Program Survey (WBSCPS). Note: The figure shows the sample mean of some program characteristics related to engagement with industry and job search assistance for students, as reported by program directors. “Frequently” means more than once per year. WBSCPS includes only São Paulo and Ceará for Brazil, and licensed programs for Peru. LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean; SCP = short-cycle program.

The programs support students’ job search in multiple ways, yet the most common one is relatively passive—providing job market information. Less common are services that are more immediately useful, such as arranging job interviews, bringing recruiters to campus, or preparing students for a job search. And, although the vast majority of programs evaluate student and faculty performance more than once a year, programs engage less frequently in activities related to students’ labor market outcomes, such as eliciting firms’ opinions of their graduates, inquiring about firms’ skill needs, or collecting data on graduates’ job placement and employment.

The SCPs in the survey countries tend to believe that students care mostly about training quality (figure O.13, panel a), which might explain why the programs seem to be more attentive to curriculum, faculty, and practical training than to students’ job search and labor market outcomes. Perhaps for this reason, the programs tend to view themselves as better than their competitors in training quality but not in employment outcomes (figure O.13, panel b). This suggests that although SCPs are responsive to the local economy and attempt, on average, to provide good training, they might need incentives to place greater emphasis on students’ labor market outcomes.