Smartening Up the Chilenos

Marcela Sánchez and Andrés Oppenheimer both used this week's column to praise an innovative new Chilean education initiative. The South American nation announced the creation of a $6 billion fund --a sound reinvestment of high commodity revenues-- that will provide scholarships to students to attend universities around the globe. By 2012, the goal is to have 6,500 students enrolled in the program. 

Latin America has been slow to take advantage of the higher education opportunities available in the United States, a lapse which is all-the-more striking given the sorry state of the region's universities. This is a pretty simple program that, while not cheap, could bring enormous benefits in the long run. Hopefully, other nations will follow their lead.