China's wage hikes could benefit Americas
University World News
By Chrissie Long
February 5, 2012
Citation: http://bit.ly/GK03sI
Citation: http://bit.ly/GK03sI
Taiwan is offering students in five Central American countries more than US$20 million in low-cost student loans. Analysts see the move to court the region, which has low higher education enrollment rates, as part of the ongoing battle between Taiwan and China over political allies in the West.
The programme, which is administered by the Central American Integration Bank (BCIE), provides loans to prospective students in Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala.In a region with university enrollment rates of only 18%, compared to 28% in all of Latin America, and limited availability of student credit, the programme is bound to have an impact, said officials from the BCIE.
“We are conscious of the fact that many people can’t access education because they don’t have the financial means to do so,” said Ruben Mora, Costa Rica director for BCIE.
“The idea is to create opportunities for more people to form part of the higher education system, which will lead to better jobs, improved economic conditions and better economic development.”(clipped; see above link for the rest of the article)
In this article, the author presents a program introduced by the Taiwanese government intended to provide low-interest and long repayment loans to Central American students in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador, through a program known as the BCIE loan programme (Central American Bank For Economic Integration). The author writes with the assumption that Taiwan acts in competition with China and that it has an invested interest in this offer to Central American university students. As the article explains, the program allows students the opportunity to pursue higher education in these countries through a loan program started in 2011. So far, 50 students have taken advantage of the offer, from Nicaragua and Honduras, and 8 universities are participating. The goal is the program seems to be to promote relations between Taiwan and the Western hemisphere, and to invest in human capital in order to promote economic development through educational advancement and opportunity.
My initial reaction involves the word investment. What exactly is Taiwan investing in? Is this a form of neo-colonialism in which Central American students are only enslaved to another foreign government? Or, is this a real opportunity for young people to advance and in turn help their countries to advance?
The 5 countries that are offered this loan program are of course known as "third-world countries", and Nicaragua in particular is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. In terms of a "first-world" model, it would seem to be a great opportunity. However, unlike the United States, where students take out loans from their own government, hence supporting their home country, these students are borrowing from a country on the other side of the world!!
This is a tough debate. On the one hand you have a low-percentage rate of college enrollment (18%) due to economic setbacks in this area. Thus, one might assume this is a good solution to that problem and that Taiwan should even be given a pat on the back, per se. However, on the other hand, is this not neo-colonialism at its best? Economic dependence on rich, industrialized country. Check. Aimed at maintaining global inequality. Check. So, it leaves us with quite a dilemma. As a teacher based in Nicaragua, I want my students to attend college. I really do. I know however that without money, that is quite difficult. So, I'd love to see more scholarship and grant programs. While this Taiwanese program appears like an "opportunity" to be taken advantage of, it may just well be in reality another debt trap, and moreover, a power move by Taiwan to attempt to step ahead in Central American relations in front of China.
We return to the word investment. We might think about students investing in their own education, companies investing in students and countries investing in other countries through development programs like the BCIE. However, which students are affected? In all of the articles that I located on the program I could not locate any specific demographics on the students who are taking out loans through this program, particularly looking for economic demographics based on social class. Furthermore this is run through a bank! The purpose of banks are to make money. They supply no other purpose than that really. I think Central American countries need to find a way to support their own students' search for higher education. I wonder if any heads of these governments are receiving kickbacks. I wouldn't be surprised.
Whenever I hear investments, there's always a dim alarm that goes off in my head. You are so right to ask the question about what Taiwan is investing in. I too want the students I've met and interviewed in Nicaragua to have a shot of getting to college. I know too well that often times, money is the only factor holding them back, and the students know it too. There's actually a push in the mountainous rural communities I work in to build a rural university in Somoto in partnership with UNAN, a Nicaraguan university. Regardless, all money comes with a price, and I wonder what exactly Taiwan expects from this in the future. Is it perhaps a ploy to compete with China (a country who has been investing everywhere from Uganda to Costa Rica?). Jaime is right to question who is being affected by this lending process (and perhaps more importantly, who isn't?).
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