Perspectivas y retos de la formación doctoral en América Latina

This paper describes the perspectives and challenges of doctoral education in Latin America, as it is a process of fundamental social importance, due to its potential contributions to the development of knowledge. Based on a well-founded analysis, it is revealed that doctoral education in this region is growing significantly, as Higher Education Institutions increase this academic offer, after fulfilling the requirements imposed by the regulatory and control agencies in their countries. It should be noted that there is a risk of low-quality doctoral education, which, while providing a greater number of doctoral graduates, has limited impacts on scientific production. Therefore, the promotion of suitable academic environments for doctoral education, the continuous advanced training of academic staff, the creation of doctoral programs in strategic areas, the development of quality doctoral education, the creation of scientific communities and national and international inter-university cooperation emerge as themain challenges which, if overcome with solvency, will make it possible to educate doctors capable of contributing to scientific production, promoting social development and contributing to the reduction of Latin America's dependence on knowledge producedin developed countries.