The Universidad de los Andes and La W Radio have come together again and, for the third consecutive year, have provided solutions to the challenges in education facing the country.
Taking into account that the national economy has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, this alliance presents ¡Vamos Pa´lante! , a new donation campaign that seeks to award scholarships to young university students at risk of dropping out due to economic hardship.
In previous years, with “Pa’lante Pacífico ”(2018) and“ Pa’lante Caribe ”(2019), we emphasized structural inequities, such as the limited access to higher education in these regions ((what regions?))of Colombia. ”This year we have a greater concern — that of those students who have had to abandone their higher education studies due to the economic difficulties associated with the pandemic ”, says Alejandro Gaviria, rector of the Universidad de los Andes.
In Colombia, only half of the students who begin a university career complete it, according to figures from the Ministry of National Education. With this panorama, added to the current situation, a new initiative, “Let’s go Pa’lante!: Let Nothing Stop Education”, will deliver “rescue scholarships” to last-years students of undergraduate programs with good academic performance and who are at risk of dropping out of college for financial reasons. The scholarships will be 95% of the total enrollment. The remaining 5% will be contributed by each student. The objective of the program is to combat desertion of students who belong to socioeconomic strata 1, 2 and 3.
It is estimated that in Bogota, approximately one in four higher education students will abandon their academic training during the second semester of 2020. According to calculations from a survey carried out by WorkUniversity (youth employment platform) of 1,500 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 years who feel at high risk of desertion, 62% claim it for economic reasons.
Vamos Pa’lante intends to raise several billion pesos in donations, in addition to the counterpart contributions in kind from each of the participating academic institutions.
In addition to Los Andes and La W Radio, Banco Scotiabank Colpatria and Supertiendas Olímpica , as well as six higher education institutions such as the Minuto de Dios University Corporation, the University of Ibagué, the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga, the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, the Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar and the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales have joined this initiative
The goal is to offer at least 500 scholarships to students from Los Andes’ undergraduate programs and partner universities. The philanthropic campaign runs from October 1 to December 24, 2020.
