Asunción: Although there are two institutions that are responsible for ensuring that the universities have the appropriate accreditation and higher education qualifications, more and more so-called “garage universities” are emerging, which award degrees, including medicine, without the slightest criterion.
A few days ago, the National Association for Higher Education (Cones) warned against courses offered at non-accredited universities, and the Paraguayan Medical Association denounced the fact that there are several medical faculties that are also not accredited.
According to the President of Cones, Narciso Velázquez, interviewed by the GEN channel, the National Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Aneaes) is the one that accredits universities and they are subject to specific regulations.
Beyond that, however, the President of the Cones seems far removed from reality as, faced with the insistence that many young people are being cheated, he replied: “The rules are clear. So far we have not had any complaints from institutions not adhering to the university plan, except for some that are in an aneaess review process and others where Cones is intervening.”
dr Jorge Rodas, a member of the Paraguayan Circle of Doctors, said that the Cones Association does not adequately control medical degrees, as several private universities offer such training without meeting the necessary requirements.
Rodas questioned Cones because the institution allows courses to be offered that do not have the accreditation of the Aneaes agency.
Of the 38 universities offering medicine, only 15 have board approval, he said.
“The control systems are failing, that’s our diagnosis,” Rodas said, noting that current medical education laws are not being followed. “If the governing body itself does not comply with the terms of the regulation and its own regulations, there is little chance of regulation,” he stressed.
He recalled that back in 2019 they asked Cones to intervene and close non-compliant courses and colleges, but nothing like this happened.
Weekly Newspaper / ADN Paraguayo
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