The classes for the Certificate Program in Economics, offered by the School of Business and Social Sciences in 2013 in Asunción, Paraguay, have concluded. “We believe the program was a success,” said Dr. Néstor Gandelman, the program’s academic coordinator.
The Certificate Program in Economics was launched at the initiative of the country’s Ministry of Finance, with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to train Paraguayan government officials.
The selection process was similar to an international bidding process. Paraguay’s Ministry of Finance drafted a set of specifications outlining what they expected from the candidates and made them publicly available.
In March 2012, a call for prequalification was issued to interested institutions. This resulted in a list of five institutions whose track records were deemed the strongest. The other prequalified institutions were Torcuato di Tella University, the University of San Andrés in Argentina, the University of Chile, and the Catholic University, also in Chile.
In November 2012, Universidad ORT Uruguay its technical proposals, and in January 2013, following an evaluation, it was informed that it had been selected to offer the certificate program.
The program's faculty consisted of professors from the School of Management and Social Sciences and from Pompeu Fabra University in Spain.
Fernando Agüero, an international trade analyst with the Directorate of Integration and a student in the Diploma Program in Economics, said that the program offered by the faculty in Paraguay allowed him “to participate in a postgraduate program of international caliber. It was an opportunity to acquire theoretical and practical tools and to learn from renowned professors in the academic field.”
“Taking this certificate program has been an enriching and positive experience in my professional life, because it will help me perform my duties at the Ministry of Finance more effectively,” said Bernardo Mendoza, an economist and student in the Certificate Program in Economics.
“Now that the school year is coming to an end, I want to congratulate all the teachers for their professionalism and excellent work in teaching the subjects,” Mendoza added.
For his part, Dr. Néstor Gandelman noted: “Offering the Certificate Program in Economics in Paraguay was a challenge for the Department of Economics. Our faculty members have extensive experience teaching undergraduate and master’s programs in Uruguay, but most of us had never participated in a program of this kind before.”
“Week after week, teacher by teacher, we traveled to Asunción to teach our classes and do our very best to help our students succeed,” said Gandelman, adding that while the students’ academic backgrounds varied, their commitment to their work was something they all shared.
“We are now able to conduct comprehensive evaluations. We definitely believe the program was a success,” Gandelman said. “The learning curve the students have followed shows a steep upward trend. The goal of helping to strengthen the human capital of a group of public officials in Asunción was achieved. We believe the goal of advancing the students’ professional careers was also achieved. Only time will tell.”