Qué sabemos de los estudiantes que ingresan a la Carrera de Veterinaria en Uruguay

espanolLa Universidad de la Republica de Uruguay, gratuita y de ingreso libre, nuclea el 85% de los estudiantes universitarios del pais cuyo total supera los 100.000. La Facultad de Veterinaria, unica que forma veterinarios en el pais, cuenta con alrededor de 3.000 estudiantes y ha concretado una variedad muy importante de acciones de apoyo. Para caracterizar a los estudiantes que ingresan se realizo un diagnostico inicial referido a: caracteristicas individuales y familiares, la motivacion para el ingreso a la carrera, la utilizacion de dispositivos moviles, los conocimientos de matematica y quimica y la comprension lectora del idioma espanol. Se encontro que la poblacion ingresante es mayoritariamente femenina, proviene del interior del pais, con una comprension lectora aceptable, pero con bajos conocimientos de matematica y quimica. La eleccion de la carrera veterinaria se debe mayoritariamente al gusto por la profesion. El principal medio de comunicacion que usan los estudiantes es el WhatsApp. Frente a esta realidad la institucion emprendio medidas de apoyo para nivelar los conocimientos especificos y debe instrumentar mecanismos para aprovechar los nuevos medios de comunicacion. Este estudio es un antecedente para realizar diagnosticos similares en otras carreras de la propia Universidad de la Republica, asi como en otras de la region. EnglishThe University of the Republic of Uruguay, free of charge and free admission, gathers 85% of the university students in the country whose total exceeds 100,000. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the only institution in the country that trains veterinarians, has about 3,000 students and has completed a very important range of support actions. To characterize the incoming students an initial diagnosis based on: individual and family characteristics, motivation for entering the career, use of mobile devices, knowledge of chemistry and mathematics and reading comprehension of Spanish was made. It was found that females were in the majority, most students did not come from the capital city of the country, their reading comprehension was acceptable but their knowledge of mathematics and chemistry was not. The choice of the veterinary career was mostly due to a taste for the profession. The main media used by students was WhatsApp. Faced with this reality the institution undertook support measures to level the expertise and should implement mechanisms to take advantage of new media. This study is a precedent for similar diagnoses in other careers of the University of the Republic as well as others in the region.