The trend continues and encourages a discussion that until now was reserved, covered by a cloak of political correctness.
The number of foreign students who enrolled in the National University of La Plata (UNLP)
increased by 52% in 2024
compared to the previous year.
And in the Faculty of Medicine, one of every four students (25%) who study the degree were born outside the country.
In the courses that began in February in the centenary building on 60th and 120th Street in the capital of Buenos Aires,
3,650 young people with a document issued by another nation
who aspire to graduate as doctors, obstetricians, nutritionists or university nurses are registered.
Between November and December 2023, registration in Medicina de La Plata was open.
The official record marked
9,715 entrants
.
Foreigners represent
37% of the total
.
Last year the number of total registered was 6,750 and those who
crossed the border
were 2,778 (more than 40%).
Once again, like 12 months ago, the community that heads the ranking is
Ecuador
with 1,786 enrolled.
That is, almost half of the foreign students arrive from that Central American country.
They are followed by those arriving from Peru (542);
Brazil (477);
Colombia (448) and Chile (258).
Medicine
has the highest concentration of foreign enrollees at the UNLP and it is not a new fact.
It is also
the one with the most attendance
in the entire La Plata university, which enrolled 45,000 boys and girls.
There was a sharp increase in 2024 compared to 2023 in enrollment that authorities are not clear to which factors to attribute.
A year ago 31,000 entrants had entered.
But one fact remains: according to a statistical report accessed by
Clarín
, for at least four years, 13% of those registered cross the borders to seek professional training at this university.
The attraction of Argentine medicine for young people of other nationalities is not exclusive to the university of La Plata.
The UBA reported that the total number of students studying Medicine is 65,417 as of December 2023. Of that universe,
14,810
have documentation issued by another State.
That is,
22%
.
The enrollment of that faculty at the National University of Rosario (UNR) is also above 20%.
“In this house we always shelter foreigners.
Interaction
with other cultures
improves educational quality.
The presence of these young people does not alter the normal development of the classes in any way,”
Professor Eduardo Mansilla, in charge of one of the chairs at Clínica de La Plata, told
Clarín .
There is a coincidence in the reasons that cause this attraction.
“Educational excellence and the
tradition of hospitality
are the factors that drive this phenomenon,” they said at the UNLP Rectorate.
“The participation and integration of these kids has been total.
They adopt a respectful and participatory stance.
Without a doubt, we must
improve with more infrastructure and resources
, but without restricting public education or income,” said Mansilla.
The former professor of Infectious Diseases and reference at the Children's Hospital, Silvia González Ayala, provides
another perspective
.
“It's for the prestige.
But, without a doubt, the quality of teaching decreased in the last two decades because there was no accompaniment of scientific reality in the study plans and the teacher/student relationship became outdated.
Something more worrying:
massiveness decreased access
to simulation activities and to outpatients or inpatients, key to learning.”
The entrance to the Faculty of Medical Sciences, at 60 and 120 streets in La Plata.
Photo: Mauricio Nievas
Eight years ago, the entrance exam was eliminated and since then
up to 10 times more students
have started taking it .
The release of quotas was not accompanied by growth in infrastructure and human resources.
The process was carried out by the authorities who still remain in charge of the Faculty.
The dean, Juan Angel Basualdo, did not want to answer Clarín
's questions
for this article.
However, he assumes that there are building deficiencies.
10 days ago, he met with the vice president of the UNLP, Fernando Tauber, to evaluate an expansion project.
It is a work that covers 656 square meters in the central building of the Academic Unit.
It will add a fifth floor to the current terrace of the building.
The official had a controversial career in management: He was the one who ordered to keep the classrooms closed for more than two years during the pandemic.
This led to protests by teachers and students.
Then, he made an agreement with a group to get re-election to the dean's office in exchange for being present.
It was in April 2022, when he still maintained 80% of the professorships in virtual mode.
He then partially fulfilled that commitment.
“All of this affected the quality of teaching.
But the presence of foreigners nourishes us,” González Ayala clarified.
The specialist listed: Brazilians tend to group together, Chileans have a very firm basic training and Colombians or Ecuadorians are educated and interested in learning.
A brief review by community
“We come because it is convenient for us
economically and also for the prestige
.
We are already leaving some traces in La Plata,” Gabriel Esprza (23), who is in the last years of his degree,
tells
Clarín .
He even managed to access an assistantship.
“I can collaborate with the teacher and share knowledge with my classmates,” added the young Colombian.
The foreign presence in the Bosque de Plata area (at the edge of that walk is the university building) can be perceived in the neighborhood.
“I meet people from my country in the supermarket and even at the gym,” said Marcelo Quiroz (21), who rents an apartment in the El Mondongo area (near the La Plata Gimnasia y Esgrima field).
As said, the propensity to choose degree courses in Argentina is not new.
But it took on another aspect after the government of Javier Milei
proposed in the Omnibus Law project to abolish free
degree studies or university educational courses for non-residents.
Based on this proposal – which has now been put on hold due to the failure of the ruling party in the parliamentary debate – the authorities
prefer not to comment
on the issue.
“We would like there to
be reciprocity
.
We intend that the doctors who train here also work in our health system.
And that Argentines who go to another country
can have the same acceptance
,” postulated the president of the College of Physicians of the Province, Jorge Mazzone.
He is also a professor of Medicine at UNLP.
“As a teacher, for me it is the same to teach a local or a foreigner.
We only require full command of the language, as when we do a postgraduate degree in the US or Europe.
They demand that of us,” considers Mazzone.
Outside the university system there are no difficulties in giving an opinion.
Luis Torres, former superintendent of Health Services and current director of the Institute of Health Policy, Economics and Management, maintained that there is a “strong disconnection between the training, quantity and needs of the health system.”
He assures that, although almost 6,000 professionals graduate per year, Argentina lacks some specialties such as clinical or pediatrics.
Torres believes that it is necessary to organize – from an institutional policy of the State – the requirements of the system with the orientation of training.
It must be determined - says the expert - whether the country aims for "a generalist model, concentrated on primary health care or if it definitively turns to a hospital-centric system, like the current one, where it concentrates on specialties."
Regarding foreigners, Torres maintains, like the omnibus project that is now stopped, that
tariffs should be applied to those who do not have residence in the country
.
“And for those who graduate, ask them for at least three years of practice in the country once they graduate.”
The Silver. Correspondence
P.S.