Venezuela Higher Education Minister proposes law reforms amid university placement gaps

Venezuela’s Minister of Higher Education, Ana María Sanjuán, has presented a report on the National Admission System (SNI), revealing that 237,754 students have been assigned spots in the public higher education system. This figure represents 65% of the total demand. An additional 71,557 applicants were certified for private institutions, Misión Sucre, or security-related institutions.

Sanjuán highlighted a significant gap between student demand and available capacity, noting that approximately 144,000 applicants currently lack university placements. As an example of this disparity, she cited the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV), where over 50,000 students applied for only 3,800 available spots, despite the institution having a total capacity of 11,000.

To address these challenges, the Minister proposed modernizing the University Law to reduce exclusion and suggested that universities reopen the assignment process in six months. The most sought-after career remains medicine, with 90,153 applications, followed by administration, physiotherapy, and law. The Ministry is also working to resolve technological saturation issues within the consultation platform.