DDP 700. Lewis A. Tyler and Andrés Bernasconi. "Evaluación de la Educación Superior en América Latina: Tres Órdenes de Magnitud." (Evaluation of Higher Education in Latin America: Three Orders of Magnitude) May 1999. 25 pp. Central America Project Series

Based on a review of the literature in the field and the authors' experience in designing national systems of higher education evaluation in Latin America, the paper analyzes the regional context that has fostered the development of such systems. The authors turn next to the national level, to discuss the elements that contribute to the implementation of evaluation systems and the ones that hinder those efforts. Lastly, the institutional level is considered, and the conditions for success of evaluation in an individual university are examined. The authors argue that the adequate design and implementation of a national system of evaluation for higher education needs to take into account the political, economic and educational context of the region, the characteristics of the country's higher education system, and the culture and organization of each institution composing it.

Keywords: higher education; Latin America; evaluation; accreditation.

JEL codes: I20, I21, I28, N36

This paper was prepared for and presented at the Conference on Educational Reform in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic held in San Salvador, El Salvador, January 25 - 26, 1999, and sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Central America Project of the Harvard Institute for International Development, the United States Agency for International Development, and Fundacion Empresarial para el Desarrollo Educativo.

Lewis A. Tyler es International Programs Associate en El Instituto de Harvard para el Desarrollo Internacional (HIID), y Lecturer en la Escuela de Postgrado en Educación de Harvard University.

Andrés Bernasconi es Coordinador de Programas para América Latina en la oficina de programas de educación profesional de la Escuela de Postgrado en Educación de Harvard University, y ha sido consultor de HIID.