HIGHER EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA

By Edgar Ewing Brandon, Ph.D., Vice-President of Miami University

Striking contrasts and unexpected similarities between home and foreign practices form the basis of observation when one begins to investigate foreign institutions. Considering that this address must cover a wide area in a short time, I have constructed it in its main lines upon the principle of comparison, feeling that whether I did so or not, my hearers would consciously or unconsciously apply this principle. The first comparison involves the definition of "Higher Education." In the United States, as the term is applied, it is commonly considered as embracing the independent college or the department of arts, science and philosophy in the university, the graduate school, which is a continuation of the college, and the professional schools of law, theology, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, engineering, education, agriculture, and in later years, commerce. All studies in these professional schools have been designated as higher education although formerly a secondary school diploma was not uniformly a prerequisite to admission, and unfortunately, it is not yet everywhere demanded.

In Latin America, higher education is confined almost exclusively to the professional schools of law, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, engineering, agriculture, education and commerce. In many states, however, the schools of agriculture, education and commerce are not there classed as parts of higher education. Only two or three countries retain in their universities the department of letters and philosophy. Strictly speaking, there is no graduate school. Schools of art and music are not an integral part of the university organization, but are everywhere subsidized by the government and enjoy a prestige not usually accorded to such institutions in the United States. Higher education

in Latin America is, therefore, almost wholly professional education, and to these professional colleges, admission is gained directly from the secondary school as in Continental Europe. Full secondary education is, however, absolutely required for admission to the traditional liberal professions, and also to those of more recent creation, such as agriculture, commerce, etc., when these form part of the university.

FACILITIES

A Latin-American university is, therefore, only a group of professional schools. Naturally there is little cohesion or unity. In some countries, such as Brazil, Bolivia and Guatemala, there is no university organization; the schools of law, medicine, etc., are separate institutions, dependent directly upon the government and answerable directly to the minister of public instruction. Moreover in the countries that have the university organization, many provincial universities have but two faculties as law and pharmacy. In speaking of the facilities for higher education in Latin America, it will be more practical, therefore, to group together the schools of a single profession than to cite the number and names of the universities. At the time of my investigations in 1911-12, there were approximately sixtyeight law schools in Latin America, distributed as follows: one each in Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Guatemala, Salvador, Costa Rica and Uruguay; nineteen in Mexico; four in Columbia; three in Venezuela; four in Ecuador; three in Nicaragua; four in Peru; four in Bolivia; four in Chile four in Argentina; ten in Brazil. Of medicine there were thirty-two, distributed as follows: one each in Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay; two each in Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentine and Venezuela; three each in Columbia and Brazil; seven in Mexico. Nearly every medical college contains also the departments of pharmacy and dentistry. Of engineering there were fifteen colleges, distributed as follows: one each in Cuba, Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay; two in Chile; three in Argentine; four

in Brazil. Of agriculture there were fourteen: one each in Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Uruguay; two each in Chile, Argentine and Brazil.

Only Cuba, Chile and Argentine have colleges of education, and only Argentine, Bolivia and Mexico have colleges of commerce. I distinguish between a school and a college as applied to the departments of education, commerce and agriculture, etc., on the basis of entrance requirements, a college" demanding the full secondary education for admission, a "school" having lower requirements. Practically all countries have schools of commerce and agriculture as well as normal schools and some are admirable of their type but few countries offer higher education in commerce and education.

Theological education for the Roman Catholic church is given in the diocesan seminaries and is relatively elementary. The archbishop may maintain a gran seminario in which the studies reach higher levels. A few of the old universities continue the traditional faculty of theology, but the number of students is negligible.

The college of liberal arts as a separate institution does not exist anywhere in Latin America (except possibly at Bogota and MacKenzie College at São Paulo in Brazil) and only the universities of Peru, Cuba and Argentine retain the departments of philosophy and letters.

EQUIPMENT

The matter of equipment in the institutions of Latin America is very unequal and there is even a large disparity in the equipment of the different colleges of the same university. In the mere matter of buildings, no South American University has suitable and adequate buildings throughout. As most of the institutions are of comparatively ancient foundation, they have inherited the colonial quarters, which were copies of the monastic universities of mediaeval Europe, while the institutions of more recent establishment have been compelled often through poverty to content themselves with hired buildings. Of the larger and more cele

brated universities, only those of La Plata and Uruguay have all their departments housed in edifices that post-date the colonial era. Buenos Aires has distinctly modern buildings for the colleges of medicine and agriculture. The college of law is established in an ancient property to which have been added in time newer lecture halls and a library. The college of letters and philosophy occupies a building which was formerly a residence, while the college of engineering occupies a block of buildings erected at different epochs and for different purposes, one of the chemical laboratories being installed in the chapel of a colonial convent. As regards buildings, the University of Chile may be taken as typical of the varied material equipment of a good LatinAmerican university. The medical college has a building erected especially for it some forty years ago. It is dignified in appearance and relatively adequate. The dental college (which however in Chile is not a part of the university organization), has a thoroughly modern structure. The engineering college occupies a good building some fifty years old. It was constructed to accommodate the whole university of that day. It is consequently not well adapted to its present uses. The law college has to content itself with a hired building which was once a residence. The same is true of the college of architecture.

In nearly all countries the medical schools are the most favored in the matter of buildings. Even in the smaller countries, this department has been given relatively modern buildings and good facilities for the prosecution of its work. Next in order of commodious quarters comes the engineering college. Its work, so largely laboratory in character, has incited the erection of suitable buildings. The agricultural colleges, being very recent and demanding larger grounds for experimental work, have drifted to the suburbs away from the crowded conditions of the older departments. The colleges of law and of letters have been and are still the least favored.

The libraries are not as extensive or as rich as the great age of many universities would lead one to expect. This is explained in part by the fact that in the colonial period

the institutions were strictly ecclesiastical and their work was almost exclusively theological, or preparatory to theological studies. The university library of that time comprised, therefore, only classical and theological works. Another explanation is the fact that the chief universities are located at the national capitals and every country has its national library, which has often been developed at the expense of the university library.

The striking feature of the university libraries is the large number of works in languages other than the national language. It is true that Spain has not nearly kept pace with her European neighbors in scientific studies and scientific production. The Spanish-American countries have not yet produced many original scientific works themselves, and have, therefore, been forced to have recourse to foreign literatures for the materials of advanced study. This is unfortunate, as it unconsciously gives a tinge of depreciation to the national idiom as a vehicle of learning. French scientific books form the great majority of the library collections and are also much used as regular texts. This arises from the historic prestige of the French language and the ease with it is acquired by other Latin peoples. Of the works consulted by students and professors in the library of the medical college of Montevideo in a recent year, 154 were in German, 231 in Portuguese, 239 in English, 1243 in Italian, 2793 in Spanish and 5816 in French.

Laboratory equipment is fairly adequate to the demands made upon it. Unfortunately, from a North American viewpoint, the Latin-American practice fails to make the fullest use of the laboratory. As a rule, it is used simply for demonstrations by the instructor in the presence of the class and not for frequent individual experiment by each and every student. Hence one of the greatest advantages of laboratory studies is lessened. Particularly is this true in engineering and agricultural schools. In medical schools, more individual use is made of the equipment. Many LatinAmerican educators admit the inadequacy of the mere demonstration method in laboratory, and the best universities