The market segmentation of higher education in Colombia reveals social inequalities

Abstract

In a scenario of significant growth in the supply and demand of higher education programmes in Colombia, this study proposes a modelling system based on data mining techniques to characterise this market after obtaining quality information about first-term students. The research uses a sample of 3548 programmes in Colombia, which represents 50% of higher education students in the period between 2012 and 2014. It is concluded that the private higher education reproduces social inequalities in the sense that it restricts by the way of costs, the access to the high-quality supply and avoid the best students to be received there. The modelling strategy creates an instrument that allows visualisation and locating of each microdata (academic programme) in a segmentation based on academic and socio-economic variables which converts the result of the research into an academic portfolio management tool for higher education institutions.

Keywords

• higher education
• colombia
• education market
• data mining
• inequality