Declining Higher Education Quality Affects Postsecondary Choices: a Peruvian Case

Few adolescents in the developing world receive sufficient guidance to make crucial life decisions during the transition from secondary to postsecondary education and into the labor market. Consequently, a significant number of graduates regret the decisions they make. The excessive rigidity of most higher education systems prevents lateral shifts between programs or from technical to university education. In addition, in Peru limited information about the range of programs and their labor market outcomes, combined with an increasing number of low-quality providers, contribute to the problem. A recent survey of Peru’s urban working-age population revealed that only 35 percent of young professionals (ages 22 to 30) were satisfied with the postsecondary choices they had made. This implies that, if given the opportunity, nearly two-thirds of young professionals would choose another career or institution, a different degree (university or technical), or would have entered the labor market directly after completing their secondary education.