Human Capital and IT

Human Capital and IT

Venezuela is the sixth largest country in Latin America, in 1995 it was estimated that 21.8 million people made up the total population. Spanish is the predominant language in Venezuela although there are more than 25 total languages spoken in the country.

Venezuela is more committed to the education of its population than any other Latin American country, they contribute a high percentage of it their budget to education. Due to this diligence, Venezuela has a very high literacy rate at 92%. Education is free in Venezuela through primary, secondary and at state universities. The better state universities are very competitive and admissions are limited. The brightest students can receive government scholarships for free studies in international universities.

The amount of people entering into the telecommunications field decreased from 1993 to 1995. In 1993 there were 22,530 full time telecommunications workers, in 1994 there were 19,553 and in 1995 the number of full time telecomm workers was down to 19,290.

Many Venezuelan students are educated in the United States. 20% of graduates are totally or partly education in the US, and another 20% has had direct exposure to US culture and practices (National Trade Report, pg. 20). This exposure to US training has been the majority of technical training for many students.

The Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GII) sponsored a conference in July of 1997 to discuss education in Latin America. The name of the conference was Education in the Information Age: An Agenda for Action in Latin America and the Caribbean. The focus of this conference was to increase the level of technology taught in schools in Latin America.

The biggest issue of the conference was the continuation of technology in the long run in Latin American countries. If Latin American countries run out of qualified human resources who are able to function using the technology infrastructure, the industries will cease to exist. If this happens, the region will not be part of the global economy (http://www.gii.org).

Venezuela is one of the most educated countries in Latin America, but they still share many of the problems with other countries. One large concern from the conference was the unwillingness of the Latin American countries to change their curriculum to include the study of technology. The countries are concerned that technology will diminish their cultural, geographic and linguistic divisions. Concern exists over the majority of the Internet being in the English language.

The conference was to be a unique achievement because it was the first time the regional Ministries of Education met with education innovators, educationalists (university professors studying education and teachers) and the private sector. The outcome of the conference is for the region to achieve the following: (http://www.gii.org)