This problem is made more difficult because the university curricula are very rigid, forcing students to become specialists in a field, with
little flexibility to mix training in that field with other abilities, or to graduate as a
generalist familiar with several fields. Today’s production processes, especially in the
provision of exportable services like BPOs, demand and reward workers that have mixed
abilities in several areas, while specialists are already quite available. Soft skills among
Costa Rican university graduates are worsening, while similar skills measured on blue
collar workers are exemplary.