The ministro de Ciencia y Tecnología (Minister of Science and Technology), Alejandro Cruz Molina, has called on public universities to increase their graduate progams, especially for PhD, with the idea of reversing the trend reported by the Informe de los Indicadores Nacionales de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (National Indicator Report on Science, Technology and Innovation) 2010-2011.
During the presentation ceremony of the report, an activity that took place on November 29 at the Casa del Cuño, antigua Aduana, Molina said the country has increased the number of Costa Ricans with doctorates from 534 in 2010 to 571 in 2011. The figure corresponds to a 0.3% of professionals with graduate degrees.
In the opinion of Minister Molina, a challenge is needed across the country, because the figure is very low and it must increased in the future.
Another issue of concern is that the majority, or 70% of postgraduate studies in the country are in the Social Sciences.
“Developed societies require progress on many fronts, one of them is in education and human resource training”, says Molina.
For the Minister it is important that new generations focus on postgraduate studies in areas like Engineering Sciences and Technology, Basic Sciences and Natural and Health Sciences.
The report data shows that 78% of those who obtained a doctorate in the Academic field did so in the U.S., Europe and Canada and 70% are male and 30% female.
In terms of investment in research and development (R & D) the report data shows that the country is far from achieving the goal of 1% of GDP, increasing from US$180.7 million (0.50% of GDP) in 2010, to US$185.9 million dollars (0.46% of GDP) in 2011.