Cuban universities cut student intake by 26 pct

Cuban universities cut student intake by 26 pct
Published May 15, 2012
EFE

Havana – Cuba's universities reduced admissions by 26 percent in the
2011-2012 academic year, the National Statistics Office, or ONE, said
Tuesday.

Its report says that for 2011-2012, Cuban universities have enrolled a
total of 351,116 students, almost 123,000 less than the 473,309 recorded
in the previous academic year.

The system of higher education has slashed enrollment in all areas, but
particularly in social sciences and the humanities, which nonetheless
continues to have the second-largest number of admissions with more than
77,200 students.

ONE notes that the highest number of students in the country are taking
medical science courses with a total of 118,914.

According to official data, the Cuban university population reached its
peak in 2008-2009 with 711,000 students, of whom more than 80 percent
were enrolled in degree programs in social sciences and the humanities.

Cuba, with a population of 11.2 million, announced in 2010 that the
country had more than 1 million university graduates as a result of the
revolution's decades-long policies of training professionals.

The plan of economic reforms promoted by the government of President
Raul Castro stipulates that university quotas must be "at the level
needed to develop society and the economy."

The Web site of Cuba's Higher Education Ministry said that for the
2012-2013 academic year, some 69,270 new openings are planned, most of
them in the fields of pedagogical, medical, technical, agricultural and
economic sciences, in that order.

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