IT LABOR MARKET

Summary 

According to Country Commercial Guide 1999, Ecuador's population totals 12.4 million.  Half the population lives in urban areas and only 1 million hold formal sector jobs.  Nearly 40 percent of the urban population works in the informal sector.  An attempt to become an IT hub for Latin America may be ill-fated given that a quarter of the total population are members of rural indigenous communities.  The literacy rate in Spanish is 85 percent and a weak public university system produces semi-qualified graduates in the professions.  Trained IT professionals and engineers can be difficult to attract and tend to require additional training to reach international standards. Little post-graduate education exists in Ecuador, and scientists are nearly all foreign-trained. Upper-level Ecuadorian managers have frequently been educated abroad (Source: US State Dept.).

However, other sources refute Country Commercial Guide’s conclusion. According to Ecuafacs, Ecuador is rapidly increasing the number of computer skilled college and technical school graduates. Computer technology is a much sought after educational pursuit. Programmers and computer professionals are emerging as technology demands increase (Source: Ecuafacs).

Ecuador Demographics at a Glance (Source: World Bank)      

Education System                               

The public education system is tuition-free, and attendance is mandatory from ages 6 to 14. In practice, however, many children drop out before age 15, and, in rural areas only about one-third complete sixth grade. The government is striving to create better programs for the rural and urban poor, especially in technical and occupational training. In recent years, it has also been successful in reducing illiteracy. 

Public universities have an open admissions policy. In recent years, however, large increases in the student population, budget difficulties, and extreme politicization of the university system have led to a decline in academic standards (Source: US State Dept.).

Private Sector Education

Although it is no substitute for universal education, some private sector groups have met the challenge to teach more than the basic skills and to prepare students for industrial and service sector economies. Globatel, a company dedicated to interactive distance learning (IDL), has come up with a way to open higher education to large numbers of people. Globatel has developed an IDL system that uses combined satellite and computer mediated communication. In the system, users can communicate simultaneously and interact freely and effectively, including sharing graphical and textual data via computers. Students can also interact with the instructor using regular telephones connected to the system via satellite. The phone keypads act as a keyboard for data communication, while voice communication is handled through regular handsets.

Ecuador has been developing its computer and satellite capabilities for many years. Ecuanet was one of the first Internet providers in Latin America. It is also a non-profit organization under the auspices of Banco del Pacifico. IN 1991, Ecuanet became a scientific network, much as the Internet did in the United States. Today, Ecuanet works with the University of Miami to provide access to schools, businesses and individuals.

Another organization dedicated to helping improve education in the science and technology arena is Fundacyt. This is a private foundation, whose President is also the National Secretary of Science and Technology under the Vice President of the Republic. Fundacyt has very ambitious goals, including funding science and technology research and sending university graduates to get their Master and PhD degrees. Only 200 Ecuadorians living in Ecuador have PhDs, as compared to 14,000 in Venezuela (Source: Washington Times).

Technical Education 

Universities offer short courses of between two and four years leading to the advanced vocational qualifications of Técnico or Tecnólogo in Computer Science. Institutos técnicos superiores (Higher Technical Institutes) offer two-year courses in Business and technological fields leading to the qualification of Técnico superior. Institutos Pedagógicos offer tree-year programmes leading to the Título de Profesor Pre-Primario or to the Título de Profesor Primario. Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial offers a degree in Electronic Commerce (Source: USC)

Major Centers of Higher Education 

• Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial
• Brookdale Community College
• Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral
• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
• Universidad de Cuenca
• Universidad del Azuay
• Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Brain Drain – Bucking the Trend

For most countries, people with a tertiary education have the highest migration rate.  Ecuador is the only South American country to buck the trend. Ecuador’s proximity to Central America may explain this divergence. Migration from Central America seems to follow a somewhat different pattern than migration from other developing countries, in that the highest migration rate is for persons with a secondary education, rather than those with a tertiary education. Net migration rate totals 0.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.) – this is lower than many of Ecuador’s neighbors (Source: How Extensive Is the Brain Drain? William J. Carrington and Enrica Detragiache).

This report was completed in December 2000 for the class Impacts of National Information Technology Environments on Business given by Professor Erran Carmel in the program of Management of Global Information Technology at the Kogod School of Business in Washington DC