The National Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Aneaes) released a report on Monday (1st) on the status of Pharmacy and Pharmacy and Chemistry degree programs in Paraguay. The survey reveals that, out of 53 programs authorized by the National Council of Higher Education (Cones), only 4 currently hold accreditation — equivalent to just 7.5% of the total.
The study was based on Cones' official authorization records, evaluation processes conducted by Aneaes itself, and the degree registry of the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC), covering the period from 2023 through May 2026. According to the agency, the expansion of academic offerings has been significant over the past decade, with the addition of new institutions and a broader territorial reach of the training system, but accreditation coverage remains at low levels, pointing to a pending consolidation phase in quality assurance mechanisms.
Cross-referencing with MEC degree registry data shows that, between 2023 and May of this year, the ministry issued 1,364 undergraduate diplomas in Pharmacy and Pharmacy and Chemistry. Of that total, only 23.7% (323 degrees) correspond to accredited programs, while 76.3% (1,041 degrees) come from courses that have not yet completed the accreditation process.
According to Aneaes, this distribution illustrates the scale of the challenge of ensuring quality in the pharmaceutical field and guides the technical monitoring priorities for institutions with the highest number of graduates. The agency, chaired by José Duarte Penayo, emphasizes that authorization, as a regulatory mechanism, certifies compliance with minimum operating requirements for a program but does not comprehensively assess the quality of the educational processes or the academic outcomes achieved.
The Pharmacy degree was not initially included among the programs subject to mandatory evaluation and accreditation under Law No. 2072/2003. However, Aneaes points out that Resolution No. 195/16 regulates Article 2 of said law and establishes the mandatory nature of evaluation for accreditation purposes for an expanded set of courses, expressly including Pharmacy within the Health Sciences group. The same rule applies to the Pharmacy and Chemistry degree.