A group of Paraguayan scientists sent a letter to President Santiago Peña on Thursday, May 29, warning about the proliferation of low-quality doctoral programs in the country. The document, prepared by researchers affiliated with the organization Ciencia del Sur, was also forwarded to the National Congress through the Scientific Advisory Office of the Presidency of the Republic.
The researchers state that the expansion of programs lacking academic rigor, supervisor integrity, and thesis relevance poses a systemic risk to higher education, scientific research, and national development. They argue that a doctorate is not merely the accumulation of courses and seminars but a process of original research supervised by active investigators, evaluated by independent peers, and aimed at producing verifiable knowledge.
The report attached to the letter highlights several problems in Paraguay's higher education system. Among them are institutional conflicts of interest within the National Council of Higher Education (Cones), whose members are all rectors of higher education institutions, allowing those regulated to act as regulators. There is also a gap between the administrative approval of programs by Cones and the actual academic standards set by the National Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Aneaes).
Sebastián Alberto Grillo, a computer science PhD from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and one of the report's authors, states that Cones acts as both "judge and party" in approving undergraduate and graduate programs. He notes that education in Paraguay appears to be much more commercialized compared to other countries and that the country needs to develop a culture and competitiveness in higher education.
The document also warns of the phenomenon of institutional self-reproduction, where theses focused on the institution itself, supervised by tutors with limited scientific output, turn the doctorate into a closed circuit of internal validation. The researchers also cite the lack of national thesis repositories, publications in so-called "predatory" journals, and the low international impact of most theses, including the absence of a requirement for proficiency in English as a scientific language.
As solutions, the scientists propose reforms to Cones and Aneaes, replacing rector representation with independent technical advisors and creating a National Thesis Repository. They also suggest on-site audits to verify program workloads and higher requirements for tutors and students regarding scientific production and participation in international networks.
The report's authors are Paraguayan scientists Fabiola Román Maldonado, Alejandra Recalde Carballo, Sebastián Alberto Grillo, and José Luis Vázquez Noguera. The document was signed by the executive director of Ciencia del Sur, Eduardo Quintana.