According to SOFOFA - Industrial Promotion Society (IPS) - Chile has a deficit of 600,000 professional technicians. Due to their high-income level, the demand of such resources is getting higher and higher.
42% of students in Chilean higher education are studying technical careers. That is practically half of the tertiary education. However, only 22% of the budget allocated to higher education is spent on them, and little is spoken about them in the reform that the government is trying to do in the country.
“Building a new Technical Education is a political and social priority for a country which is advancing and attempting equality towards its people. It´s necessary for us to be conscious about this kind of education. It´s worthless to say that it is important without doing anything”, said Patricio Carrasco, Investigator from the Educational Policy from 2020 Foundation.
According to IPS, Chile has a deficit of 600,000 professional technicians, that´s why it is essential to broaden technical training coverage, also considering that technical training allows people to get continuous learning. Many institutions offer programs which let people attain the technical title, and later complement it with new studies to get the professional degree in the same area.
One of the reasons why people get into technical careers is that they have a quick insertion in the working world because they receive new training and experience that gives them the new competencies required to continuously develop their careers, or to receive a higher salary. Also, they are shorter and cheaper programs.
If the right decision is taken by a student, the money invested in the study time can be recovered in a few months, even in less than a year because there are some careers that not only offer the chance to get a good job quickly but also offer very high salaries - sometimes even better than other university degrees such as Business Administration or Engineering.
According to figures provided by Mifuturo.cl, Mineduc´s portal (MINEDUC Ministry of Education), the top technical careers with the highest salaries at the end of the fourth year job are:
Next in the ranking comes:
Technical careers are offered in Colleges and CFT (Technical Schools of further Education). For a student to receive the title of Higher Level Technician, completion of a 1600-hour-program must be fulfilled as a minimum, which corresponds to 4 semesters.
Where do you think Chile stands in the future with its education? Do you feel it is moving forward? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.