Conclusions

because students value training the most, they must provide better training than their competitors. Alternatively, they might believe that because their training surpasses that of their competitors, it is the feature most valued by students. Either way, they seem to be aware of a certain weakness in employment.

To summarize, the WBSCPS paints a rich and nuanced picture of SCPs and their providers in LAC. Most providers are relatively young. Consistent with the dynamism of this market, the programs are also young and have been recently updated. They typically feature a fixed curriculum, devote half of the time to practical training, and require mandatory internships. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they offered a small proportion of classes online, suggesting that they might have struggled to adapt to online delivery. In general, they are well equipped in terms of practice facilities. They have low student-faculty ratios, and their faculties are academically qualified, relatively young, and quite engaged with industry. The programs evaluate faculty with care and student evaluations are an important evaluation criterion. They deliberately engage the private sector and do so in multiple ways, the main one being through internship agreements.

At the same time, there is substantial variation in SCPs’ characteristics and practices—just as there is substantial variation in their outcomes (chapter 2). Indeed, chapter 4 exploits this variation to investigate whether program characteristics and practices are related to outcomes. And, although the programs provide various forms of job search support, the main type of support—provision of labor market information—is relatively passive and perhaps less useful than others, such as arranging job interviews or running an employment center. Importantly, most program directors believe that what students value the most is the quality of training—as opposed, for instance, to employment. This view of demand might guide supply. That is, if students value training quality the most, it is reasonable for the programs to concentrate on it, perhaps hoping that this alone will help students find employment. Relatedly, most programs consider themselves to be better than their competitors in training quality but not in employment. All in all, while the programs seem intent on providing good training and engaging with the private sector, they might need a more deliberate focus on labor market outcomes.

Conclusions

This chapter started by considering how the supply of SCPs could contribute to realizing their promise. In closing the chapter, this section concludes that SCPs in LAC have several positive features that could indeed contribute to that role, but they might also face some shortcomings.

On the positive side, the SCP market is dynamic—with more “churn” (entry and exit of programs) than the bachelor’s program market. Institutions open new programs in response to the local economy and the labor market success of graduates in the corresponding field. Private institutions and non-university institutions are the most responsive to local conditions. Entry also responds to competitive patterns that are related to the existence, size, and geographic coverage of subsidized public HEIs. Further, programs are highly structured and focus on