Fernando Ponce León DEAN, PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DEL ECUADOR (PUCE)

What steps have you taken in recent years to bring the education offered at PUCE up to international standards?

PUCE has launched new degrees while modifying existing ones and launching online courses. In all, we have 45 courses in 13 faculties and 22,000 students. Regarding international certifications, PUCE now has two graduate courses in business that are internationally certified: business administration and accountancy. The tourism and hotel management degree are also internationally certified. We are working to obtain the same level of acknowledgement for the law school degrees. Additionally, we have increased our international educational partnerships to 700 agreements. Among those, we have agreements with Ohio University, Fordham University, and some French schools with whom we will launch a program in innovation engineering.

What is the university’s standpoint on its geographical physical expansion as well as its expansion through online means?

The online courses have been key to expanding our programs to many parts of the country where it is difficult to access education. Nevertheless, physical presence is important, and both means are complementary, not substitutes. PUCE has a presence in Quito and five other regions, and now we are opening a new office in the Amazonian region. We will be the only university connected with the Vatican that has presence in the Amazon region. There are few offerings for higher education in the Amazon, so we will bring three undergraduate courses, including agriculture engineering, nursing, and business administration.