It became clear to us that the proposed solutions based on fiscal balance objectives were not sufficient to attack the driving causes of Ecuador’s weak economic development. At the macro level, current rulers have tried to build visions and priorities by increasing or decreasing public spending, depending on their ideology, without effectively innovating the roles and functions of public and private to sustainably change the reality of Ecuadorians. We need to ask new questions and goals in this matter.

Let’s create an “economic policy for competitiveness” using public-private participation in all areas of economic policy. For example: closing the widening gap between formal education and economic development. This is an area with a lot of potential for improvement. The impact of technical colleges on the workforce in key sectors is almost non-existent. Their intervention lacks effective learning programs and methodologies in solving productivity problems; technology and innovation management; access and transfer of specialized resources or building customer loyalty. In short, the increase in expenditure on formal technical education is not related to the growth of value added in the surrounding sectors, nor has it contributed to more equitable bargaining power relations in such sectors.

Declare an extraordinary economic state

Meanwhile, business ecosystems based on technology and information systems are rapidly developing, capable of creating learning communities around them. They are sources of new knowledge, able to offer new answers to old questions, and even change the questions that explain competitive success. Namely, the backlog of formal education in relation to the needs of the competitive environment is so great that many still answer outdated questions late and/or incorrectly. Bridging the size gap between academia and local economic development requires leveraging these ecosystems to innovate technical education in the country.

Dear homeland!

That we can build an institutional design so that the “public” can play a leading role (planner/designer, supervisor and sanctioner) of the private work of educational solutions that effectively massify quality education. That we know how to move from control of forms (execution of the budget; attendance of classes and students; obtained grades, etc.) to control of the impact of education on productivity, quality and quantity of employment in the main economic sectors of the environment. . That among the new questions we include how to finance the demand, not the supply of educational services, in order to encourage the competitiveness of private operators.

By innovating the public-private relationship, we renew the practices and methodologies of agricultural production, production and services. Let these times of crisis be conducive to reducing resistance to profound change that involves closing this painful gap between technical education and economic development. (OR)