By Martha Lagace, Staff Writer, HBS Working Knowledge
From a "virtual university" in Mexico to revitalized field-based research and case writing in Costa Rica to private management education in Brazil, it's clear that innovative educational practices are taking off in Latin America.
The presidents of three Latin American institutions at the forefront of these initiatives told conference participants there are plenty of exciting opportunities for development in education. Yet such changes, they acknowledged, don't come without growing pains.
"This kind of education needs its own paradigm," said Carlos Cruz, president of Monterrey Tech's Virtual University. "It's not like putting an astronaut on a horse.
"You've got to redesign the model of education and see what technology can support it."
In a discussion moderated by HBS Professor Howard H. Stevenson, the three panelists shared their experiences as well as the dilemmas they have faced as educational innovators in Latin America.
"A Little Interference"
Although Mexico's private Monterrey Tech was founded almost 60 years ago, its Virtual University, said Cruz, has allowed to school to make some dramatic strides. Prior to the advent of advanced technology and the Internet, Cruz pointed out, many good professors would never dream of accepting a teaching assignment at one of the school's smaller campuses (there are 29 in the network). Now, since the faculty can stay plugged-in to the rest of the world, they are more inclined to go where their teaching skills are most needed.
The technological network of online learning has allowed much more communication and exchange among ever greater numbers of students and faculty. The sheer speed of distance learning, said Cruz, "helps us increase the talent of our people vis- -vis competitors."
The Virtual University offers 15 master's degree programs as well as a doctoral program, and has satellite telecasting with almost 1,500 receiving sites. The school's formal online relationships and joint projects using technology with six schools and universities abroad&38212;among them, Carnegie Mellon, Thunderbird, and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile—widen students' educational horizons, too, he said.
Distance and online learning are methods of educating students throughout their lifetimes, Cruz added. For Mexico, they are one important way to reduce the education gap, if not within the country then at least in relation to more economically developed countries.
However, he conceded, any initiative that relies on technology can be burdened by glitches from time to time. One such glitch happened for the Virtual University at exactly the wrong moment: when the school was broadcasting a speech by the Mexican Secretary of the Treasury throughout its network in Latin America.
"The satellite signal had some interference," Cruz told the conference audience. "Five minutes on, 10 minutes off."
"We realized that our satellite dish was experiencing interference from planes taking off and landing at Mexico City airport," he said. All efforts to have the planes re-routed for the remainder of the broadcast, he reported with a smile, were completely in vain.
Rhythm of Innovation
As a 30-year-old private institution educating MBAs and executives, Costa Rica's INCAE (Instituto Centroamericano de Administracin de Empresas) focuses much of its efforts on the case method and translations of cases.
But cases can't the only source of new information, said INCAE president Roberto Artavia (HBS DBA '92). The school has also launched a field-based research program, a policy center for providing policy analysis and training to governments in the region, and a center for studying competitiveness and sustainable development. Funding for these initiatives comes from INCAE's own resources as well as from a private foundation, independent publishing houses, the government, and the private sector.
The rhythm of innovation has to be fairly quick, Artavia noted, because, especially in the executive-education program, the number of "repeat customers" is high.
Such field-based research is vital for the advancement of knowledge, he said, and leads to the constant updating of INCAE classroom materials, which keeps the school's educational approach fresh, credible and relevant.
Aiming for Quality + Affordability
In Brazil, all the "drivers" would seem to be in place for market opportunities in private education to catch on, said Claudio Haddad (OPM 12), president of the for-profit IMBEC (Brazilian Open Market Institute). The returns for education for people with college degrees have been higher there than elsewhere. The country is more open to investment and trade, which has increased the demand for all education, especially continuing education. And the quality of education to date, both public and private, has been very low.
While such low quality presents a market opportunity, said Haddad, the landscape for education is far more rocky than it appears at first glance. People are highly resistant to paying high prices for education. IBMEC, he pointed out, is the first "educational entity" to be structured as a for-profit corporation in Brazil.
"If we want to talk about the mass market for education in Brazil," Haddad advised the conference audience, "the prices have to be very low."
At the same time, he said, a school needs to strive for the highest quality of students, faculty and facilities if it is to be known as a good school and not merely a training center. While there is demand for executive education at the top levels of Brazilian companies, he said, this demand is also limited, due to the perception of high prices.
Since an institution has to survive economically, Haddad said, IBMEC has chosen to tailor its own executive education for junior and middle managers, who have programs in the evenings, and to undergraduates who are educated during the day. "Obviously, this model has been made possible due to limitations in the public school system," he said.
"We try to provide programs for which the market is in need," he said. "We can expand traditionally in Brazil, but the key is controlling quality—which is not easy to do." While incorporating technology is part of IBMEC's strategy, he said, its content and uses need strict attention.
"Anybody can put a course on the Web. But what will the quality be like?"
For the Internet to be successful as an educational tool, he said, a student has to do more than just go to the screen and read what is there. To that end, his school has joined forces with an American company that specializes in distance learning, in order to integrate technology with quality learning experiences.
"Education is, of course, long-term and requires consistency," Haddad concluded. "But I'm sure there are many opportunities out there in Brazil and Latin America. This is something that Latin America has disregarded, Brazil especially. But now there is consensus that education is the key."