HEHHRR are critical infrastructure for a society to engage in the
knowledge economy. Guatemala desperately needs to double its efforts
to accumulate a skilled and well-prepared work force able to respond
to the increasing pressures of globalization and the changing productive
paradigms. As stated by the Task Force on Higher Education in Developing
Countries (2000, 37) “collective action is needed to support, nurture,and strengthen higher education… and the way universities serve the public
interest”. Worryingly, the domestic higher education system in Guatemala
has proven to be insufficient to produce the advanced educated work
force to meet the market demand.
The debate addressing education in Guatemala is still concentrated
in primary education. The challenges faced at this level are used by several
authorities and thinkers to deviate attention from tertiary education;
however, higher education can no longer be neglected. This scenario
welcomes the contribution of donor support to alleviate the shortage
of highly educated Guatemala human resources. Since the 1980s, promising
leaders have been educated at the postgraduate level with the valuable
contribution of the international community; it is expected that the sending
country, in this case Guatemala, would incorporate the graduates in the
different areas of employment in order to make the best use of such
scarce human resources.
The data collected and analyzed in this article must be considered
in the context of the outcomes of the domestic higher education system.
As this research defines “highly educated Guatemalan human resources”
as those nationals who have obtained postgraduate education
(master/doctoral), it is implied that a prerequisite for candidates to be
accepted in postgraduate academic programs they must have obtained
an undergraduate degree. That is why the structure, coverage, quality
and general status of higher education in Guatemala determine to an
important extent the characteristics of the individuals who would pursue
further levels of education.
Based on the available data and information, it can be concluded that
highly educated Guatemalan human resources are scarce. Even if we
considered all postgraduate alumni both from national as well as from
international universities, shortages in well-educated and advanced skilled
workforce are seriously undermining the competitiveness of the country.
On the other hand, producing such valuable human capital is complex
and resource-consuming. Local universities at the postgraduate level do
not have access to public funding, not even the San Carlos of Guatemala
University. In Guatemala, all the postgraduate education programs in both
public and private universities are financed by the students themselves.
The case of the private higher education is even more acute as profit
seeking practices and lack of educational loans contribute to the exclusion
and only economic elites have access to higher education at this level
(Roma 2006; Godinez and Tobar 2006).
Findings in this study indicate that the private business circle in Guatemala