A series of independent explorers built on open public data

Exploring higher education
in Latin America

Built by Daniela de Michele · danidemichele07@gmail.com · LinkedIn

I built this series of applications to understand and learn about the higher education systems of different countries in the region, using their own public data. Each explorer starts with the general features of the system and then offers disaggregated information on every university institution, together with a degree programme search. Every country organises its education system in its own way, with its own institutional categories and its own way of measuring things, so each explorer is designed to respect those differences.

They are built from the official microdata each country publishes: the SPU Yearbook in Argentina, SNIES in Colombia, SIES in Chile, SUNEDU in Peru, the INEP Census in Brazil, MEC/INE/UDELAR in Uruguay, SENESCYT in Ecuador, CEUB in Bolivia and ANUIES in Mexico.

The explorer applications themselves are currently available in Spanish. Institutional names, source acronyms and official category labels are kept in their original language throughout.

Mexico — open explorer Colombia — open explorer Peru — open explorer Brazil — open explorer Argentina — open explorer Chile — open explorer Uruguay — open explorer Ecuador — official portal Bolivia — open explorer Colombia Perú Brasil Argentina Chile Uruguay Ecuador * Bolivia México
* Ecuador does not yet have its own explorer — the link goes to the official SENESCYT portal.

Colombia

SNIES · 2024 statistical cut-off
337Institutions
2,56MEnrolled students

Covers the entire higher education system — universities, technological institutions and professional technical institutions. Includes an overview by institutional category, a map by department, and two degree programme searches (one by actual enrolment, the other by current accredited registration).

Open explorer →

Peru

SUNEDU · 2025 cut-off
144Institutions
1,69MEnrolled students

Covers university education only (regulated by SUNEDU). Includes applicants, entrants, graduates and degrees and qualifications awarded — with particular attention to the operating licence, which in Peru is mandatory rather than an optional quality mark.

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Brazil

INEP · 2024 Census
2.561Institutions
10,2MEnrolled students

The largest system of the group, with data already aggregated by INEP itself. Includes a breakdown by academic organisation (universities, university centres, faculties) and by teaching workload, including the distinctively Brazilian category of dedicação exclusiva (exclusive dedication).

Open explorer →

Argentina2024

SPU · 2024 Yearbook
142Institutions
2,79MEnrolled students

2024 edition of the Anuario de Estadísticas Universitarias (University Statistics Yearbook, partial advance release). Adds an extended institutional profile — enrolment by discipline, teaching posts, disaggregated budget and the socioeconomic profile of entrants — plus the degree programme catalogue from the Guía de Carreras and performance indicators.

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Chile

SIES · 2025-2026
127Institutions
1,46MEnrolled students

Built from SIES microdata: enrolment, academic staff, graduates and current degree programme offerings. It adds something no other explorer has yet — employability and earnings by degree programme, plus the actual detail of which areas each institution has accredited.

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Uruguay

MEC · INE · UDELAR
36Institutions
255KEnrolled students

This is the one explorer with a different structure: Uruguay has no single body holding institution-level data, so it combines a national overview (historical series from 2005) with a dedicated explorer of the 18 faculties of UDELAR, which accounts for 89% of the country's enrolment.

Open explorer →

Ecuador

SENESCYT

Unlike the others, we have not yet been able to build a dedicated explorer for Ecuador — enrolment data is locked inside an interactive dashboard (Power BI) with no option to download the full dataset. Until we find a way to reach the raw data, we link to the official SENESCYT portal, which does allow the indicators to be consulted interactively.

Go to the SENESCYT portal →

Bolivia

CEUB · 2024 Statistical Bulletin
15Institutions
568KEnrolled students

Built from the Statistical Bulletin of CEUB (Executive Committee of the Bolivian University System), with historical series from 2007. Covers the Sistema de la Universidad Boliviana (SUB) — the 11 autonomous public universities plus 4 under special regime — since private universities do not publish consolidated data by institution.

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Mexico

ANUIES · 2024-2025 cycle
4.332Institutions
5,52MEnrolled students

Built from the ANUIES Higher Education Statistical Yearbook, the most granular dataset of them all — at institution, campus and individual degree programme level, with its own four-tier taxonomy for classifying programmes. Includes an institution search (with nested campuses) and a nationwide degree programme search.

Open explorer →

Argentina

The general Argentina explorer is above, alongside the other countries. In addition to that app there are three more specific tools: the previous edition of the yearbook for comparing series, and two dedicated explorers — university budget and foreign students — with no equivalent yet in the other countries.

Argentina2023

SPU · 2023 Yearbook
139Institutions
2,75MEnrolled students

Built from the Anuario de Estadísticas Universitarias (University Statistics Yearbook) of the Argentine Under-Secretariat of University Policy. Unlike the others, it covers the university system only (short-cycle, undergraduate and postgraduate) — non-university tertiary institutes in Argentina fall under each province and are not part of this source. Previous edition, available for comparing series.

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Argentina

SPU · 2024 Budget
61Universities
0,56%of GDP

Budget of the national universities: appropriations, execution, funding sources and spending per student, institution by institution.

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Argentina

SPU · Foreign students
130.607Foreign students
2024Reference year

Foreign students in the university system: origin by country and continent, share by institution and by field of study, with the University of Buenos Aires' own census as a counterpoint.

Open explorer →

About this project

These explorers are an exploratory exercise in public data analysis, not an official publication of any of the bodies mentioned (SPU, SNIES/MEN, SIES, SUNEDU, INEP/MEC, MEC/INE/UDELAR, SENESCYT, CEUB or ANUIES). Each application is a self-contained HTML file — once downloaded it needs no server and no internet connection, and can be opened directly in any browser.

Because these sources follow different regulatory logics, I avoided forcing direct comparisons between countries inside the apps — each one keeps the classification and terminology of its own source. If you are interested in what is and is not comparable across Latin American education systems, write to me; it is a conversation I would like to keep having.