The State of Higher Education in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Knowledge is the new wealth! Apple and Google, two of the most valuable companies in the world, are prime examples of this new reality. Driven mostly by novel advances in science and technology, these global brands have significantly changed our way of life. This awareness is now forcing countries around the world to seek new ways to keep up with this ever-evolving economy. These countries also agree to the concept of scientific innovation being synonymous to higher education. Therefore, in order to remain competitive in a globalized market, developing countries in particular are now called upon, to train a new cadre of future workers to a higher standard. Training skilled workers and making them available to the wider economy have become a daunting challenge for the developing world. Case in point, the oldest university in the Americas, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo UASD, just received its first patent in 2020, after more than 500 years of existence. For too long, higher education has been assigned a relatively low priority, as one of the major economic sectors in the Dominican Republic, the tourism and hospitality industry, does not require highly technical trained workers. By any measure, making the leap from teaching to research intensive universities is not a small task for the Dominican government, especially, considering their current situation of chronic underfunding, underpaid faculty, and underdeveloped curricula. With an everincreasing student population, institutions of higher learning in the Dominican Republic can barely maintain their current position, let alone catch up to the MITs and Oxfords of the world, which are constantly raising the stakes. Here we propose a few scenarios that may help academic institutions in the Dominican Republic or the developing world as a whole, increase their potential of promoting growth and economic development in this global economy.