43% of young people in Colombia decide not to attend university, according to a survey: Is it just a matter of money?

Over the past few decades, governments' greatest efforts in education have focused on ensuring that more and more young people can access higher education. But what happens when those same young people say "no" to studying?

Everything seems to indicate that this is precisely what is happening worldwide, and particularly in Latin America and Colombia, at least with regard to formal or university education, a phenomenon increasingly documented and evidenced by a decline in university enrollment worldwide.

Now, a new study reveals the magnitude of this phenomenon and its main causes. It's the "2025 Global Survey on Generation Z and Millennials," developed by the international firm Deloitte, considered the largest professional services firm in the world.

The results of this survey (administered to more than 23,000 people from around the world, including Colombia) are revealing. Worldwide, 31 percent of Generation Z youth (those born between 1995 and 2006) and 32 percent of millennials (those born between 1983 and 1994) decided not to pursue higher education.

And in the case of Colombians , this figure skyrockets, as 43 percent of Generation Z and 43 percent of millennials have already decided not to continue their studies, a figure between 11 and 12 points above the world average.

The study also analyzed the main reasons why these individuals made this decision. At first glance, financial reasons were the main reason for not studying (74 percent of millennials and 64 percent of Gen Z), as well as personal and family circumstances (40 percent of millennials and 41 percent of Gen Z).

However, a significant number of Colombian participants cited other reasons, which, according to the study, reveal a significant shift in the dynamics of what they expect to be important not only in their academic training but also in their working lives.

And 22 percent of Gen Zers and 16 percent of millennials said they decided not to study because their main life plan was to become an entrepreneur. Additionally, 18 percent of Gen Zers and 16 percent of millennials said they were looking for career paths other than higher education.

“For Colombian millennials and those belonging to Generation Z, success doesn't necessarily consist of climbing the corporate ladder; in some cases, they are more motivated by entrepreneurship or finding career options that allow them to balance their work, their well-being, their purpose, and their personal lives,” highlights Roberto Estrada, Human Capital Partner at Deloitte.

For the experts consulted by EL TIEMPO, more than not studying, what these generations are looking for are new ways to do so. Why enroll in a university and wait five years to start working? Why are curricula so rigid? Why isn't it possible to learn only what I need for my life project? Is there a way to learn without "padding" and without being tied only to the teachings of a particular discipline?

This is how educational analyst Ricardo Rodríguez explains: “The survey results are part of a global framework in which figures show that fewer and fewer young people are accessing higher education. This is due to multiple factors, starting with a disenchantment with universities and expensive, lengthy educational models that have failed to meet the needs of a population seeking faster job placement and a more flexible learning model, in which students decide what they want to study, when they want to study it, and according to their capabilities.”

Particularly in Colombia, this phenomenon does not translate into a drop in higher education enrollment. While enrollment was on the decline between 2016 and 2021, it has been increasing in recent years. However, it is worth clarifying that in the country, according to figures from the Ministry of Education, the gross enrollment rate in this sector is 55.38 percent, and it is estimated that there are nearly two million young people outside the system. Therefore, although there is less interest in studying, this is not necessarily reflected in enrollment numbers.

Despite this, Gloria Bernal, director of the Educational Economics Laboratory at Javeriana University (LEE), does believe that "the new offering of non-traditional programs, as well as the significant increase in virtual modalities, has led to fewer and fewer people interested in traditional programs."

And the relevance of education seems to be at stake in these times. Young people increasingly feel that what they learn at university isn't necessarily what they need in the workplace, and that they can truly train for it through other means, such as modular and stackable courses and micro-certifications offered, for example, on platforms like Coursera, Platzi, edX, and others.

In fact, there are already studies that suggest this. For example, the Education Opinion Survey conducted by the Businesspeople for Education Foundation and the National Consulting Center (CNC) found that more than half of young people in Colombia who are employed are not in the field in which they currently study or previously studied.

Specifically, 59 percent of respondents said their job is not at all related to their field of study, and another 15 percent said their job is only partially related to their studies.

In response, Andrea Escobar, director of Businesspeople for Education, noted: "The training young people access isn't necessarily the kind that truly provides them with job opportunities. Are we connecting vocational guidance correctly?"

The expert also highlighted that, although more than half of young people still believe that a college degree will guarantee them a better job, a significant 33 percent say they disagree with this information.

"It's not a small percentage, since there's a significant group of young people in urban areas who recognize that there are other forms of education, not necessarily a university degree," Escobar said.

According to Ricardo Rodríguez, "If we add to this the fact that education in Colombia is expensive, that access to public education is not universal (not for nothing is economic factors still the main reason for not studying), and that young people's life plans revolve around being entrepreneurs, not being employees, and building their professional lives at different times, we see that the dynamics of education are changing."

Universities are no strangers to this changing dynamic among young people, and there are already many examples in Colombia of institutions trying to rapidly change their model to meet these needs.

Examples include the new educational model at Icesi University in Cali, which, starting this year, offers much shorter programs, allowing students to choose their subjects based on their interests and life plans.

Or cases like those of the Universidad de los Andes and the Universidad Javeriana, which this year announced their foray into technical and technological training, but through much more flexible models, as Rector Raquel Bernal explained to this newspaper: “The model we are going to implement, taking advantage of the fact that it is a new institution, is truly very different from what is offered in the post-secondary education sector in Colombia. The idea is that people can build their careers flexibly, stacking them like Lego. They can take four-month courses so that young people gain some employability, then begin to gain work experience. Then they stack skills in such a way that in the end they could even add a labor technician, a technologist; we could even homologate some of that in technological specializations.”

But that's not all. It's increasingly common to find institutions simply offering courses and certifications on platforms like Coursera or edX. There, young people can study very short programs to develop a specific skill they need for their careers, with the support of, for example, Los Andes, Javeriana, or the National University, and, why not, world-renowned universities like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxford, among others.

MATEO CHACÓN ORDUZ | Deputy Editor, Life Today - Education