Our high rates on poverty undoubtelly cut down the posibilities, for the poor people, to enter university.

In Latin America, the educational layers (talking about college education) have showed many situations of development, financial support, investment, etc. According to official data, in Latin America only 2,5 to 4 per cent of the internal gross product is devoted to college education, avoiding the directives of UNESCO, who stated that the investment level should be no less than the 7 per cent.

Mr. Daniel López (president of Latin America Local Universities Net, "UREL"), demands that University "should stick to its social roles. For the whole Latin America, possibilities to reach the real development are quite limited because of the poor quality of the education, no searching and less innovation".

The public support is unavoidable for Colleges, in order to follow their way as a public and non-payable educational centres, without obeying suggestions coming from the Capitalism, (with the aim to make education, another product to be sold). Because of the latter, in E.E.U.U. the majority of Universities brings private education and the point is that reaching them is quite expensive, preventing non-wealthy people from entering college.

Nowadays, due to the newliberal and capitalist mainstream applied in politics, the "industry" of Education in another peace of reality which they pretend to be out of the sphere of the working class, and everything is influenced by domineering countries and some international organisms.

Unesco has stated that only 32 per cent of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean zone has the opportunity to enter a College. Ana Lucia Gazolla, Principal of the Unesco International Institute for the Superior Education in Latin America and Caribe, declared that "the amount of people entering university in this zone is far from the 55 per cent in the industrial countries".

Talking about the same topic, Manuel Ramiro Muñoz, from the San Buenaventura, Colombia University, thinks that "privatization comes as a consequence of the Estate withdrowal in its duty to guarantee education for everyone. The new idea is a conception of "free market" service, not a public service". At the same time, Urel Net president, Mr. Daniel Lopez, remarks that "Education is turning into a more and more unfair situation, since there can be free choices in the field of private colleges but not equality of opportunities for everyone".

In Guadalajara, Mexico, in September 2005, the V Iberamerican Summit of Public Colleges Principals took place. Some challenges and different problems have been analized there, and the Principals of the Institutions gathered in the meeting have agreed to declare that the Public University is one of the main pillars in the way towards latin american integration. "Only through high level education will be possible to make our "information" society into a "KNOWLEDGE" one". They mean that in this world where everything is "overinformation", sometimes knowledge is quite limited due to a low level in real education.

Two complete years have passed after that meeting, and its final conclussions are still valid: college situation in latin america has not changed. Mr. Miguel Rojas Mix, Coordinator of that summit stated at that time that "Public colleges are threatened by a conception of the Estate where everything has been privatized". "College education would contribute to guarantee equal opportunities for the people, and educate the citizen, both activities that private College, handled by market criteria, does not fully accomplish at all" "Unesco, World Bank and World Trade Organisation, all of them declare that Non developed countries don´t need to invest in public high education. They leave our countries in a secondary position, just to be servants of Multinationals, to live in the dependence".

High level education is one of the main elements that foster a Nation to fully grow up, with inhabitants that have been educated in many fields, able to take proper decisions, even to choice the right representatives, in a rational and informed way. Lack of Education (primary, secondary and college education) creates people dependence towards the government, due to incapacity to analise reality, and even some ignorance in certain aspects that should be considered in the voting moment.

A well educated human being is a free man or women, with wings to take their own decisions, thinking of it and without depending from others. That is why, in the field of analising the budget, the College needs should be considered as something really important.

Investment on College education should be one of our priorities, along with all kind of education levels, and thus our countries would reach the desired development. A well educated nation has many possibilities to develop. On the contrary, in Latin American countries where there is so much poverty and high rates of marginalized people, many young people choose to leave school. They choose to cooperate to mantain their homes. Latin America has some public and free universities but taking courses there imply expenditure (transport, books, among others) and many candidates should not be able to afford them due to the economic situation.

Some specialists are now studying the social factor that resides under the problem. Professor Alvaro Marin, from the Mexican Pedagogical University, states that "many young people believe that assisting to college is a waste of time; and that they should certainly work in order to earn some money". But it is crucial for Latin American Estates to generate a breaking- off between the economic model stated in the nineties (including privatisations in educational fields) in order to protect public education. Besides, some countries such as Argentina and Chile should take on account that public, free and democratic university, has taken years of struggle, even with many lives poured down in dictatorship times, in order to settled it as a common good for every citizen, and not a kind of luxury aimed only for the elites

Mercosur Journalism Agency.

Traducción: Dra. Adela Pérez del Viso