ASSESSMENT. As in past exams, the 2023 admission test will have the fields of numerical aptitude, verbal aptitude, logical reasoning, attention and concentration.
14 public universities will take an exam equal to those that the Government supposedly eliminated. FEUE says the new process is even more cumbersome.
For this 2023, the access to university should be free. At least that’s how the government painted it, but the truth is that nothing has changed for those looking for a place in a third-level institution in the country.
may not be called Examen Ser Bachiller or Test Transformarbut “free access to the university” announced on July 13, 2022, by President Guillermo Lasso, it’s exactly the same. This is how Erik Barba, lawyer and national president of the Federation of University Students of Ecuador (FEUE) explains it.
transfer of powers
On July 14, 2022, Lasso signed an Executive Decree in which he announced the elimination of the university admissions exam, starting in 2023, and detailed that each university in the country will decide its student admission process.
The process is already done by private universities, but in public ones -according to Barba- the competence of taking the exam cannot be transferred without allocating resources.
Therefore, 14 public universities (SEE BOX), have requested to be assisted by the Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (Senescyt); which has resulted in the admission process being the same or “more cumbersome”, says Barba, since if a student, for example, wants to enroll at the National University of Loja, he must travel to Loja to complete the process.
Assessment
The entrance exam will be from April 10 to 14, 2023 and it will last an hour and a half. Of that time, 30 minutes will be used for the vocational test. In addition, according to a document delivered by the Senescyt to the FEUE, the questions are not differentiated by career, but contain the same fields as the ‘extinct’ entrance exams:
“For the evaluation of admission to institutions with a process assisted by Senescyt, a total of 160 questions have been established, which will be divided into 40 questions per field to be evaluated (numerical aptitude, verbal aptitude, logical reasoning, and attention and concentration)”details the document.
“Senescyt itself is the one that continues to take the exam, so nothing has changed,” explains Barba, who adds that the socialization process has been one of “the worst”, since the schedule has undergone changes that have confused the students. “The exam was supposed to be taken on March 24, but that didn’t happen. We made a request for information and they only responded that at the end of March or the first week of April. The Senescyt communicates very little, in its networks it focuses more on replicating messages of support for the President or on the yes to the Popular Consultation.
In previous processes – says Barba – the Senescyt relied on student associations to socialize the times and mechanisms. However, with the current Secretary of Higher Education, Andrea Montalvo, this dynamic was cancelled.
THE TIME requested an interview with a Senescyt spokesperson insistently. The last order was on March 27, 2023, without there being an answer.
cumbersome records
Prior to the exams for a quota, the students -compulsorily- had to fill out a single registration in Senescyt.
In addition to the national registration and registration, there was a social registration, only the latter took at least an hour and asked questions about family income, how many people the student lives with, how big his house is. “It was to identify if you are in a vulnerability group and give you extra points for affirmative discrimination,” explains Barba.
Calos Tonato, is 22 years old, and did not know about the registry. He lives in Carchi and wants to be an environmental engineer. “I know that for this March process I did not reach, but I don’t know what I should do if I couldn’t register”, he comments with concern.
Before the consultation, from the Senescyt indicates that there is no set date, but that it could be in the middle or end of this 2023.
Universities and institutes assisted by Senescyt
Entrance examination
- National Polytechnic University
- Higher Polytechnic Agricultural School of Manabí
- IKIAM Amazon Regional University
- University of the Armed Forces (ESPE)
- State University of the South of Manabí
- National University of Chimborazo
- Technical university of Cotopaxi
- Technical University of Manabi
- University of Investigation and Experimental Technology Yachay
- Central University of Ecuador
- Technical University of Babahoyo
- Amazon State University
- Luis Vargas Torres Technical University
source: Senescyt
El 14 de julio de 2022, Guillermo Lasso firmó un Decreto Ejecutivo en el que anunció la eliminación del examen de admisión a las universidades, a partir de 2023.
“President Guillermo Lasso lied to young people. There is no free access to the university and the exam is the same”, Erik Barba, lawyer and national president of the Federation of University Students of Ecuador (FEUE).
Para quienes se inscribieron para el primer proceso de admisión de este 2023, las distintas sesiones y horarios, se podrán consultar a partir del 3 de abril AQUI