WILLEMSTAD - The Minister of Education Marilyn Alcala-Walle announced during a recent press conference that after an evaluation by her ministry at 181 universities, spread over 15 countries in the Caribbean and the region, it became clear that only 20 percent meets the set quality standards.

The minister has previously announced that her ministry is working on a new policy regarding the financing of education in the region. It is important in this process that students choose a training institute that offers high-quality training.

To map out the universities that offer good quality courses, the policy department of the ministry, together with various experts, conducted an evaluation of several universities in the region where Curaçao students are currently enrolled.

The assessment was carried out based on quality criteria that are generally applicable to the evaluation of universities. This includes, for example, ranking, ranking score, study costs in relation to quality, study costs in relation to the income generated by a diploma; housing for students and admission requirements.

This evaluation has shown that only 20 percent of these institutions have a good "ranking"; which is proof of a good or acceptable quality. However, according to the ranking, there is no high quality of education at 80 percent of the institutions. This means that the quality cannot be guaranteed at 80 percent of the universities, which entails the necessary risks, according to the minister.

During the evaluation it was also established that a majority of the students from Curaçao who are studying in the region are studying in the United States and that, up to and including the upcoming school year, students have chosen the training institute where they are abroad with funding from the Student Finance Foundation Curaçao wanted to continue their further education. It has also been found that Curaçao students studying in the region do so at 181 training institutions in 15 countries in the Caribbean and the region.

In addition to the evaluation, the ministry has also evaluated other universities, which do meet the requirements set and recommendations have been made regarding the choice of university in the United States. This list with a total of 17 recommendations can be found on the government website.