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‘Vamos Pa’lante’ is an initiative created by the University of the Andes, in alliance with The W Radio, which seeks that last-year students of undergraduate programs do not drop out for economic reasons as a result of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus.
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“We are focused on the last year because in this context there are hundreds of young people who are having trouble graduating. It is a dramatic situation having attended college, entering a career, being about to finish university and having to withdraw due to lack of money to pay, “he told EL TIEMPO Eduardo Behrentz, Vice-rector for Development and Graduates of the Universidad de los Andes.
The strategy consists of collecting 3,500 million pesos in donations to grant scholarships to about 500 talented young people from various regions of the country, who only have to apply and go through the process to accredit before the academic institution that they have problems paying their semester as a result of the pandemic.
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“There are several reasons for university dropouts, such as vocational or academic, among others. However, these happen more during the first years of studying, while the economic reason is presented to a greater extent in recent years ”, explains the manager.
The scholarships will correspond to 95 percent of the total enrollment, and the remaining 5 percent must be contributed by each student.
Likewise, the deadline for making donations to the program is until the end of this last quarter of 2020.
“This year, the program has four other partner universities: the Minuto de Dios University Corporation, the University of Ibagué, the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga, the Autonomous University of the West and the Technological University of Bolívar ”, says Behrentz.
In them, students should approach the different dependencies and consult the requirements to do the accreditation process.
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Another differential aspect of the campaign for this year is that for each peso collected, the universities will contribute another to achieve the general goal.
“The institutions will also make part of this contribution so that this pandemic does not end us as a society. It will be our grain of sand ”, adds the manager.
Third edition of the campaign
As Behrentz explains, this is the third edition of the program. In 2018, ‘Pa’ lante Pacífico ‘was launched, an economic aid that helps young people from the coast with excellent academic skills who are interested in pursuing their undergraduate studies at the Universidad de los Andes.
For that occasion, the support covered up to 98 percent of the semester tuition during his career.
In 2019 it was the turn of ‘Pa’ lante Caribe ‘, a program of inclusion, academic cooperation and student mobility that also benefited students between 16 and 21 years of age, from the departments of Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Córdoba, La Guajira, Magdalena, San Andrés and Providencia, Sucre and some municipalities of Urabá (Turbo, Necoclí, San Juan de Urabá, Arboletes, Unguía and Acandí).
Positive experiences
In the two previous editions, the program managed to collect the sum of 15,000 million pesos, which were distributed gradually and in accordance with the needs of each student and with the procedures of the universities.
“In both cases, the experience was very positive and the results ended up benefiting about 100 young people so that they could enter to pursue a career at associated universities in their region or at the Universidad de los Andes,” he adds.
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However, the call for this year is different because, in addition to being extended to the entire country, it focuses on university retention and not on access to higher education, as was the case in the previous two.
Likewise, the emphasis for this occasion will be on supporting students from strata 1, 2 and 3 who are having financial difficulties.
“This segment will have priority when choosing the scholarships to be awarded, and they will be the first beneficiaries of the donations that are made. This is how the program has been created to support the most vulnerable and needy populations ”, concludes Behrentz.
People who are interested in donating to the campaign, and thus helping talented students in different regions of the country continue with their studies, can enter the Universidad de los Andes website or approach ATMs from Scotiabank Colpatria and Supertiendas Olímpica.
Maria del Mar Quintana Cataño
@Miradelmar
