Acceso a la educación superior en Ecuador: análisis de tendencias entre 2017 y 2022

A careful look at the Higher Education systems in Latin America reveals a process of progressive strengthening from the end of the 20th century to the present 21st century. Some experts associate this circumstance with the joint concern shown by the various social actors involved in this area of society, such as the State, the market, families and the individual actors themselves. In Ecuador, various variables can be analyzed that have led to a positive evolution of access to universities during the third decade of the 21st century to have a holistic view of this phenomenon. This is the objective set out in this article, based on the application of a qualitative-quantitative approach and a methodological strategy that includes the application of some tools of documentary design and statistics with data obtained from the Senescyt website; Among the latter, the application of multiple linear regression to determine the influence of the variables on university enrollment, as well as an analysis of temporal patterns, trends and gaps between 2017 and 2022. The statistical resources seek to document in a much more didactic and visible way, the expansion of institutional coverage that has occurred in the Ecuadorian territory, because of the social inclusion policies put into practice to attract to the higher education system many of those sectors of the population, traditionally marginalized, such as indigenous people and inhabitants of rural areas. This study thus allows for a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon in question, where the intensification of efforts to ensure that more people could access higher education in the country is evident.