2024-09-02 18:29:32
The rector of Incae spoke with PRIMICIAS about education in Latin America, the profile of Ecuadorian students and the projects of the Central American business school that is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
The renowned Central American business school Incae celebrates its 60th anniversary, which has meant adapting to changes in education and the needs of the business sector in Latin America.
This has led the institution to plan to offer short programs in certain countries, including Ecuador. In the country, the program that is expected to be implemented is for senior management. “We hope it will be ready by the end of this year or early 2025,” says Enrique Bolaños, rector of Incae, in an interview with PRIMICIAS.
Bolaños comments that Ecuadorians are the third nationality with the greatest presence among the institution’s students and that in its history there has only been one professor from Ecuador: Arturo Condo.
Condo, who later became rector of Incae, is remembered as one of the few distinguished scholars that the school has had. However, there is another Ecuadorian profile who could occupy a position at Incae, once he finishes his doctorate soon.
On the occasion of the institution’s six-decade anniversary, Bolaños made a visit to Ecuador during the second week of July 2024. The rector of Incae spoke with PRIMICIAS about education in Latin America, the profile of Ecuadorian students, and the Central American business school’s projects.
Enrique Bolaños, rector of Incae, in 2024. Courtesy of Incae
How do you see education in Latin America, considering the technological and social changes? Education, in general, has undergone a very important change in recent years. The education industry is undergoing a great transformation. Therefore, there are new providers with different products and there are new teaching methods. Before everything was face-to-face, now there is virtual teaching.
In virtual teaching, there is synchronous teaching, which is instantaneous; and asynchronous teaching, which means that the student reviews the video classes whenever they are available. These types of changes were accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. But, before then, Incae had already been working on digital transformation issues with a provider, so we quickly turned to showing all our products digitally. Obviously, in-person teaching will continue, so our master’s degrees have that modality, but we also have virtual offerings.
We have a high-tech classroom, with 72 screens for students to connect to from home. And students can also get PDFs of the professor’s presentations. With this dynamic, the expertise that students have is almost in person. With new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, Incae has had to change its products. Now we offer more technological programs, with entrepreneurship, with critical thinking, with soft leadership skills. This is because many of the hard skills are in computers, so our future leaders have to strengthen their soft skills.
An Incae classroom with students in virtual mode in 2024. Courtesy of Incae
In addition to technological implementation, how does Incae differentiate itself?
Incae has the academic level of the best universities, which is evidenced by the fact that many of its programs are among the 100 best in the world. It also stands out in that it is certified by the three largest international accreditation agencies:
English, European and American; and in the level of its professors, which means that all of them have a PhD. In addition, the business school strongly promotes, among its students, topics such as sustainability, integrity, comprehensive responsibility for the development of their country, entrepreneurship, leadership and inclusion.
What is your current offer?
We offer nine different master’s degrees. We also have the concept of live long learning, which means we offer graduates continuous training throughout their lives, with short-term programs. We also have corporate programs for companies, tailored to their needs. Every year, we train 6,000 executives and graduate around 450 young people with master’s degrees.
What is the weight of Ecuadorian students?
We have 15 nationalities in a class. There are years when Ecuadorian students are the third or fourth nationality, so it has an important weight. The first program that Incae promoted in Ecuador was in 1974.
Incae has a corporate government with representatives from seven countries, one of which is Ecuador.
Ecuador has had a member on the Board of Directors of Incae since 1984. This allows the school to understand what the country is experiencing.
How do Ecuadorians differ among Incae students?
Each nationality has its own idiosyncrasy. Ecuadorian students want to return to their country to work there.
We have students of all levels, but the academic ability of Ecuadorians is quite high.
Ecuadorians get involved in all the clubs, they are quite active. Regarding the corporate programs of the business school,
Companies from which sectors in Ecuador are most interested in this academic offering?
We have interest from the banking industry and from trading companies. All companies need training, some send senior executives to receive courses, while others ask us to deliver programs at their facilities.
How can people finance their studies at Incae? Do they offer scholarships?
We have scholarship programs and actions with banks so that there are loans.
80% of our students receive financial aid.
At the beginning of this year, the school opened an Executive Center in Panama. What is the reason for this decision?
To help our student base, many of whom are from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, we opened an Executive Center in Panama, due to its proximity and air connection.
How much did the departure of Incae from Nicaragua by decision of Daniel Ortega’s regime in 2023 influence the inauguration of the center in Panama?
Historically, Incae has had two campuses, in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The first was in Nicaragua. When there were political problems, in the 70s and 80s, the school moved to Costa Rica, which eventually became the main campus.
Once the Nicaragua campus was closed, only the Costa Rica campus remained. However, technological development and virtuality have led to the fact that the installed capacity of two campuses is no longer necessary to operate. Now we operate with the Costa Rica campus, where there are 300 rooms for MBA students.
However, the executive master’s courses, which are held one week a month, are moved to Panama, which has the hub of the Americas and is a central location for the regional market. For this reason, the Executive Center is 15 minutes from the airport, with a hotel and various services nearby.
And do you consider teaching your programs in other Latin American countries?
Of course, it is good to go to the countries. That is why we are going to come here (Ecuador) to do a program, we are going to go to Guatemala to do another program, we are going to go to Peru. But, the bulk of the master’s degrees are in Costa Rica and Panama. As the market expands, we will evolve. The senior management program.
The idea is that it will last three weeks, it could be one in Guayaquil, one in Quito and one in Cuenca. We are analyzing it. We hope that the program will begin at the end of this year or early 2025.
What profile do you think an MBA or master’s degree offered by Incae (focused on business or innovation) should follow?
Our students come from all walks of life: lawyers, historians, doctors and even musicians. Our teaching method allows us to mix people with different experiences, so that everyone contributes, teaches and complements the others.
We have had lawyers who have become presidents of companies. Having other types of skills other than business does not mean that you have to limit yourself. If the person has critical thinking, leadership and skills, he or she can become successful.
What skills should Latin American executives have?
Latin America is a very volatile region with a lot of instability, and that is what we teach at Incae. Living in Latin America is not the same as living in England, Germany or the United States. At Incae, executives learn to live in the Latin American environment and the case studies are about companies in the region, including Ecuadorian ones, that have experienced volatility. That is why it is so important for Latin American executives to need our type of training, in which they are taught to live in the region, to solve problems in the region and to connect with colleagues in the region.
By: PRIMICIAS