Universidad de El Salvador

At UES I was able to see a small-scale pragmatic model at work.

Dr. Carlos Rudamas received his PhD in Germany, and followed with two post-docs there as well. He then decided to return to El Salvador to use his education and connections to help change a flawed system.

Dr. Rudamas has eight Bachelors physics students helping him in four areas of research. All these areas are of practical application to modern El Salvador, ranging from atmospheric spectroscopy to biophysics to renewable solar cells, and are within the limited means that Dr. Rudamas has to work with. He believes that the focus on research, in conjunction with upper-lever class work, prepares his students to pursue PhD's straight out of UES (he equates his implemented curriculum to a masters).

The connection to Germany is strong, and the more successful students are pipe-lined into PhD programs in Bremen and Frankfurt. Further progress is envisioned through structuring a joint PhD program between Germany and El Salvador (research and data collection in Germany, thesis and classwork in El Salvador, for example). One major goal is to get more PhD's teaching classes in physics at UES, as currently only two of some 25+ professors in the physics department have PhD's.

I had a fascinating chat with about 10 physics students. In contrast to Guatemala, almost all said that they wanted to come back after pursuing higher degrees outside. A strong sense of national pride was cited, along with the common theme of family. One kid said, "We're lucky to be able to go to school at all. We owe it to our country to come back and help in any way we can." We didn't get into specifics, but I sensed this was a reference to the brutal decades El Salvador had endured previously.

When asked about specific areas of study, all the students stated their interests as "practical" physics application, mostly in line with the research of Dr. Rudamas, but they also acknowledged that their lack of access and familiarity with other research areas has been unfortunate and limiting in choosing a future direction. They have a strong desire to have specialists from other areas come and give talks, and are open to other fields once given the opportunity.