=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3607/paper9
|storemode=property
|title=Importance of STEM areas and education in the department of La Paz
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3607/paper9.pdf
|volume=Vol-3607
|authors=Fatima Consuelo Dolz,Carla Vanesa Mamani
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/lawcc/SalvadorM23
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==Importance of STEM areas and education in the department of La Paz==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3607/paper9.pdf
Importance of STEM areas and education in the
department of La Paz
Fátima Consuelo Dolz, Carla Vanesa Mamani
Institute of Informatics Research, Computer Science Department, Faculty of Pure and Natural Sciences, Universidad
Mayor de San Andrés, Villazón Av. 1995 Monoblock Central, La Paz, Bolivia.1
Abstract
This work was based on the project "STEM Areas and Education in the city of La Paz" developed in the
2021 management whose purpose is contribute to promote STEM education by analyzing the situation
of STEM areas in the department of La Paz and its impact on the labor market; to study and recommend
appropriate methods and tools; in this sense it has been possible to develop the corresponding activities
to obtain the proposed products, so the State of the art on STEM areas, study of their characteristics,
advantages and disadvantages in society has been developed. Then, it was necessary to study and obtain
statistical reports and tables on the analysis of the impact on the foreign and local labor market;
Likewise, it is necessary to analyze statistics on technical and professional training to determine
whether the labor supply is sufficient for the existing demand. From these studies it is concluded that
STEM constitutes the fundamental basis of research and professional training abroad and that in our
country and specifically in the department of La Paz an increase in these areas that became more evident
with the pandemic situation in which technology has become essential, as well as Medicine science in
which vaccine research is necessary and is being done
Keywords
STEM areas; STEM education; job opportunities.
1. Introduction
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Likewise, the STEM
education system refers to the abovementioned acronym, a concept that was coined by the
National Science Foundation (NSF) in the 1990s, and of which countries such as the United States,
Canada and France are pioneers in this method that seeks to enhance the capabilities of students
so that they are able to solve problems and generate innovations that contribute to real life.
The term STEM in education is increasingly used by parents and teachers, although it actually
has its origins in the nineties [1]. But then we ask ourselves... Why is it being imposed now? Why
is it necessary and convenient to prepare ourselves in these areas? STEM education encompasses,
therefore, a multidisciplinary learning process around the subjects of Science (Biotechnology,
Medicine, Nursing, Genetics, Chemistry or Physics and others), Technology (Computer Science,
Telecommunications, Robotics, Software, etc.), Engineering (Naval Engineering, Public Works,
Electronics, Architecture) and Mathematics (Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Systems
Analysis, Physics).
According to different studies and trend forecasts, the demand for professions related to STEM
disciplines will stand out significantly from other occupations. This fact, which is already a reality
today, calls for the design of new teaching and learning methods aimed at fostering a scientific-
technological vocation among young people, providing them with the competencies and skills
necessary to solve real problems and face the challenges of the future. The ultimate purpose of
Proceedings XV Latin American Women in Computing Congress, October 16–20, 2023, La Paz, Bolivia
fdolz@umsa.bo(F. Dolz);vanesamamani003@gmail.com(C. Mamani)
0000-0002-1849-9554 (F. Dolz);
© 2023 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
CEUR
ceur-ws.org
Workshop ISSN 1613-0073
Proceedings
STEM is to prepare the new generations to live in a constantly changing environment and to train
them for current jobs or jobs that do not even exist today.
This paper addresses the study of the current situation of education and research in STEM
areas in the department of La Paz, Bolivia. Our research questions:
What is the importance of STEM areas in the department of La Paz? what is the behavior of the
labor market? is it based in STEM areas?
2. State of the art STEM areas
Today’s society is facing new challenges and opportunities that demand professional profiles
specialized in problem solving, with the ability to innovate and exploit the possibilities offered by
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT's) and STEM areas in general. To understand
why the teaching of these fields is so necessary, as well as their popularity, it is worthwhile to
delve into the role of the areas that make them up. Starting with the "S" for science, it is a field
that encompasses problems such as global warming, climate change or medicine. The "T" for
Technology ranges from computers to the digital age with Artificial Intelligence and
programming. The "E" for Engineering covers infrastructure, building design, systems, cities and
bridges. Finally, the "M" for Mathematics can encompass fields ranging from economics,
accounting, investment and taxation, mathematical modeling, analysts and even cryptographers
[1].
We need to know how many students or what percentage of students are in social areas and
what percentage are in technological and science areas. We know, for example, that at UNAM in
Mexico [2] it has double the number of historians (161) as computer science students (75), three
times as many psychologists (622) as chemical engineering students (200), roughly speaking,
49,900 students in physical-mathematical sciences and engineering compared to 89,200 students
in social sciences, i.e. almost twice as many. 200 students of social sciences, i.e. almost double,
and the same happens in several Latin American countries, while Asian countries are favoring
engineering and science studies by limiting access to humanities faculties to students who obtain
the best qualifications to enter them [3]. Asian countries are looking forward with a long-term
vision while Latin American countries are looking backward by reviewing history.
Based on all this, it is necessary to know if there are any initiatives in Bolivia to promote STEM
education, and we found the following:
1. The EnerGea STEM Club [4]
It is the first STEM club in Bolivia, for girls and boys from 6 to 10 years old, working since
late 2016 on building different skills needed for the future. STEM areas are considered
vital for the future and key to innovation and job creation. It encourages holistic thinking
and the application of STEM concepts to solve everyday problems, creative design of
solutions, engineering concepts and teamwork, and the importance of tolerance and
interculturalism. Periodically he interacts with children from clubs in other parts of the
world, exchanging ideas and getting to know each other.
2. Bolivia – Latin American STEM Network | Experiment [5]
Since September 2017, the Siemens Stiftung Foundation has been offering Experiment
training courses in Bolivia in collaboration with universities. The Experiment Educational
program arrives in Bolivia with the objective of strengthening learning through
innovative methods with an emphasis on “Learning by doing and researching.” This is an
initiative implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Water (MMAyA) of Bolivia,
through the National Service for the Sustainability of Basic Sanitation Services SENASBA,
in conjunction with the Pedagogical University of Bolivia. The adaptation of the Program
to the national educational reality, as well as the training of teachers, has had the support
and technical assistance of the International Siemens Stiftung Foundation and the German
Cooperation (implemented in Bolivia by GTZ).
3. STEM – Bolivia Digital
Page of the Bolivian Technology Agency AGETIC with STEM projects, such as Waskiris
Girls with camp activities. AGETIC implements Technological Innovation Centers in
different departments of Bolivia [6].
There are also research initiatives in relation to women, with analysis and recovery of reports
of women's participation in STEM contexts, since in Bolivia a project is also being worked on,
among others, at the Bolivian Catholic University.[7] with a different approach of analyzing the
life stories of prominent STEM women and other strategies.
3. Impact study on the external and local labor market
Next, Labor Market tables are reviewed to analyze the impact that STEM areas are having in the
labor field.
3.1. Employment External level
In general, online vacancy bases are not representative of the universe of labor demand; Many
employers recruit through other means and the hiring strategy is correlated with structural
aspects, such as occupation or economic sector. By definition, these bases provide greater
coverage to sectors that are expanding and occupations with high levels of turnover [8].
Below is a table of the most in-demand occupations.
Board1
Most in-demand occupations [8]
More O*NET code added Argentina Chili Colombia Mexico Peru
Sales and Related Occupations 21.19 21.55 25.38 20.53 19.93
Professionals Health Care and Technical Occupations 10.64 3.28 3.25 2.86 2.98
Occupations related to Food Preparation and Serving 5.45 2.26 2.30 2.06 1.86
Occupations in Community and Social Services 0.59 0.97 0.82 0.45 1.09
Occupations in Education, Training and Library 4.06 1.47 0.99 1.03 1.8
Science
Occupations in Law 2.23 3.24 2.18 3.26 2.53
Occupations in Biological, Physical and Social 1.92 1.86 1.42 0.91 1.50
Sciences
Personal Care and Service Occupations 1.75 2.28 0.92 0.74 1.17
Occupations of Transportation and Transfer Material 1.67 1.95 1.62 0.64 1.25
Protective Service Occupations 1.21 5.81 1.52 2.43 2.42
Production Occupations 6.09 5.50 8.74 3.48 3.15
Occupations Commercial and Financial Operations 5.93 4.60 9.09 14.01 9.01
Office and Administrative Support Occupations 8.49 16.63 19.16 19.72 28.34
Maintenance and Cleaning Occupations of Buildings 2.6 2.53 2.02 1.25 2.96
and Green Areas
Occupation Installation, Maintenance and Repair 2.56 1.85 1.41 1.45 1.29
Management Occupations 4.70 8.61 5.25 12.23 7.7
Construction and Extraction Occupations 4.07 3.25 2.52 1.85 2.2
Computer and Mathematics Occupations 3.55 1.97 1.66 2.4 1.53
Art, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media 1.98 1.4 1.67 1.8 1.11
Occupations
Architecture and Engineering Occupations 7.14 6.86 6.28 5.57 5.74
Health Care Support Occupations 0.84 1.17 1.19 0.26 0.24
Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry Occupations 0.46 0.26 0.11 0.12 0.18
The new job demands are now much closer to a specific capacity and skill than to a medium or
long-term degree; we see demand based on STEM in boxes. The skills gaps are concentrated in
more focused capabilities, programming, design, and product specification skills and not so much
in traditional academic qualifications. For example, the growth of e-commerce due to the
pandemic has generated demand for programming skills, massive data analysis, machine
learning, and the use of geo-referencing software. "Traditional reading would place this demand
in the field of engineering or the technical level of systems careers, but in practice many young
people are trained in 'Bootcamps' or intensive courses that provide students with excellent
preparation for these skills." and there is still a supply gap for them in many countries in the
region. Knowing how to read these new demands will be essential to maintain relevance in
training responses” [8].
Table 2
Descriptive statistics of years of experience and educational level by country
Source: IDB [9]
Most of the vacancies in this database are for low-skilled jobs; That is, they do not have
important requirements regarding work experience or educational level. In most cases, there is
no explicit requirement for work experience or only one year is required. And very few vacancies
require a university degree; The minimum educational level required is a bachelor's degree or
technician and technologist [9].
Below, we review potential work with new technology-based ways of working.
Table 3
Estimates of potential teleworking according to different methodologies [9]
Countries Potential teleworking Potential teleworking
Dingel & Neiman Saltiel Methodology
Methodology (2020) (2020)
Argentina 31% 14%
Bahamas 35% 16%
Barbados 33% 15 %
Belize 24% 10%
Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 18% 8%
Brazil 27% 13%
Chili 27% 13%
Colombia 21 % 11%
Costa Rica 33% 16%
Ecuador 19% 9%
Guatemala 14% 7%
Honduras 16% 7%
Jamaica 25% 12%
Mexico 22% 10%
Nicaragua 16% 8%
Panama 26% 14%
Paraguay 23 % 10%
Peru 20 % 10%
Dominican Republic 16% 9%
savior 16% 8%
Trinidad and Tobago 31% 15 %
Uruguay 26% 13%
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 24% 10%
Table 3 presents data with estimates of potential teleworking in Latin American countries,
based on the calculations obtained by applying two methodologies that yield different results that
do not coincide in any case, but that indicate the validity of new forms of work such as
telecommuting.
3.2. Bolivia Level Employment
It is important to now know the situation of labor demand at the national level and mainly at the
departmental level.
We analyze the data presented in table 4 prepared from obtaining data and reports obtained
in digital sources such as: LinkedIn [10], Opcionempleo [11], Trabajopolis [12], Computrabajo
[13], Acción Trabajo Bolivia [ 14]. These sources present the job demand online.
Table 4
STEM employment trend in Bolivia
LinkedIn Employment Police Job Computer Work Total
Bolivia Option Work Action
Agriculture and Countryside 0 2 0 0 0 2
Architecture 2 1 1 0 11 15
Administration and Office 4 98 27 11 180 320
Customer Support 159 599 71 5 98 932
Banking and finances 51 52 43 4 22 172
Scientific and Research 46 73 2 0 13 134
Cooking and Pastry 1 22 0 0 28 51
Construction 2 167 11 4 135 319
Consulting and Projects 20 8 3 1 167 199
Accounting and Economics 105 749 43 6 54 957
Direction and Management 4 220 5 2 39 270
Design and Media 182 288 4 0 40 514
Education 69 428 3 0 35 535
Food industry 0 24 16 0 31 71
Mining industry 0 30 0 0 13 43
Textile industry 0 1 0 1 13 15
Computing 47 535 40 143 192 957
Engineering 107 1304 42 37 226 1716
Real Estate 9 22 13 0 17 61
Internet 27 22 1 0 55 105
Legal and Consulting 10 69 6 0 15 100
Logistics and Warehouse 54 37 45 3 40 179
Hand work 0 1 5 0 69 75
Marketing and sales 250 663 214 22 232 1381
Medicine and health 42 449 38 4 58 591
Fashion and Beauty 20 22 1 0 11 54
NGO and Charitable
Organizations 12 16 4 0 0 32
Human Resources 55 247 9 1 20 332
Industrial Security 1 77 4 0 14 96
Oil services 1 3 2 0 25 31
Social and Humanities 87 50 0 0 36 173
Technicians 100 700 20 2 262 1084
Telecommunications 21 450 4 159 105 739
Turism and hotelery 2 49 5 0 6 62
Total 1490 7478 682 405 2262 12317
Total STEM 49% 5986
Note. - Own elaboration with adaptation [10, 11, 12, 13, 14]
For the local study, information has been requested from appropriate institutions in the
country, such as INE, Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Labor, etc. But, due to
times of pandemic, we have been able to obtain very little in terms of statistics or tables
prepared by these institutions, which is why we have had to generate tables from the
integration of different sources published via the internet or official websites. [10, 11, 12, 13,
14]. It is for this reason that the sources considered may turn out to be a biased set since they
mostly take the existing online demand.
Due to the above, we indicate that the labor demand in Bolivia has a trend of 49% based on
STEM areas, a total that does not consider economic and financial management jobs and
specifically we separate sales items in the department. De La Paz is usually done informally. But
also considering these jobs that apply economic and financial sciences (gold table squares) we
obtain a percentage of 58% which is very significant.
This trend is illustrated in the following figure adapted from Table 4, where the great labor
demand in the engineering branch is clearly observed.
Tendencia de empleo STEM en Bolivia
Telecomunicaciones
Sociales y Humanidades
Seguridad Industrial
ONG y Org Benéficas
Medicina y Salud
Mano Obra
Legal y Asesoría
Inmobiliaria
Informática
Industria Minera
Educación
Dirección y Gerencia
Consultoría y Proyectos
Cocina y Repostería
Banca y Finanzas
Administración y Oficina
Agricultura y Campo
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
LinkedIn Bolivia Opción Empleo Trabajo Polis Compu Trabajo Acción Trabajo
Figure1: STEM employment trend in Bolivia
Note. -Own elaboration with adaptation of [10, 11, 12, 13, 14]
4. Data and statistical tables on training
Once the labor demand is known, it is important to also know the behavior of university education
in the department of La Paz and analyze if the same trend exists. Therefore, statistical data on
enrollment by areas of knowledge of the two public universities in the department of La Paz are
presented. In Table 5 the statistical data corresponding to enrollment by knowledge area
management 2018 of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) of the city of La Paz, and in
Table 6 the statistical data corresponding to enrollment by knowledge area management 2018 of
the Public University of El Alto (UPEA).
Table 5
Statistical Data of UMSA - Bolivian University System [15]
Table 5 shows statistical data on UMSA university enrollment by areas of knowledge where we
can clearly see that the area of Social Sciences and Humanities (which includes students of Law
and Political Sciences) concentrates most of the university enrollment of 39%. and also observe
that the participation of women is greater than that of men in this area. Second place corresponds
to Engineering and technology with 27% of enrollment.
In order to better illustrate these data, the corresponding graph is presented at the bottom of
the table.
Next, also taking from the same source, that is, from the publications of the Executive
Committee of the Bolivian University (CEUB), Table 6 is shown statistical data from the Public
University of El Alto, of the city El Alto in the department La Paz.
Table 6
UPEA Statistical Data – El Alto – Bolivian University System [15]
Adding the data from both tables, it is observed that the area of Social Sciences and Humanities
participates with 38.7% of the UPEA enrollment and in second place we have Economic Sciences
with 28% of the enrollment.
We now analyze the total by department. that is, considering the sum of both public
universities in the department. of La Paz, since it has not been possible to obtain data from private
universities. There is a total of 50,367 enrolled in Social Sciences and Humanities in the
Department of La Paz (which considers those enrolled in the Faculty of Law), compared to 79,507
enrolled in Sciences, Engineering and Technology in 2018. Data that allows affirm that,
professional training in STEM areas of public universities of the department. of La Paz has
exceeded 60% mainly due to an increase in enrollment in Engineering and Technology.
Therefore, we can say that vocational training in STEM areas is having a trend analogous to labor
demand, that is, oriented towards a STEM base.
We see below theFigure 22, which shows graduates by area grouped into two large groups:
graduates who obtain a degree in professions in STEM areas, and graduates in other areas.
Figure 2: Graduates grouped by Area (Public and Private University, Department of La Paz)[15]
Of approximately 12,500 students who graduate from the department. of La Paz (total between
public and private), we see that approximately 5,000 new professionals graduate in STEM areas.
However, due to the revised statistics of the 2018 administration in which the student population
in careers in STEM areas has increased considerably, it is expected that the number of graduates
in these areas will also increase.
5. Conclusions
It has been possible to obtain the products proposed to fulfill the purpose of the project, of which
we have presented the state of the art in STEM areas; study of its characteristics, advantages and
disadvantages in society; Reports and statistical tables on the analysis of impact on the labor
market abroad and locally, as well as local training that give us an overview of the current
situation regarding STEM areas in the department of La Paz.
Therefore, our research questions. What is the importance of STEM areas in the department
of La Paz? What is the behavior of the labor market? Is it based on STEM areas? They respond like
this:
From the studies carried out, it is concluded that STEM tends to become the basis of labor
demand in the country, and the fundamental basis of professional training in recent years in the
country and specifically in the department of La Paz, as it is observed an increase in these areas
that became more evident with the pandemic situation in which technology has become essential,
as well as the science of Medicine.
All of this leads us to conclude that it is important to promote STEM education and training in
the department of La Paz, for which a proposal has been developed aimed at teachers and parents,
and to apply it to children and young people within educational institutions, as well as in the home
and/or cultural or other centers, a proposal that is found in file I.I.I [16] but is not presented in
this article for reasons of space.
Likewise, it is important that the Executive Committee of the Bolivian University takes action
in this regard by proposing university policies that encourage greater training in STEM areas.
Thanks
Our gratitude to the Computer Research Institute for providing the environments, technological
infrastructure and administrative support to carry out this work.
References
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