**4. Final observations**

The Colombian journey to become a country with an educational system that "develops communication skills in order for students to be able to read, understand, write, listen, speak, and express themselves correctly in a foreign language" [22] began in 1979. Thirty-five years later, in 2004, the MEN set long-term quantitative goals to be achieved in 2019. In 2010, the MEN established intermediate goals for 2014 that could serve as a sign of how close the country was (of) to having all high school graduates at B1 Threshold (pre-intermediate) level, while all university graduates were supposed to be at a B2 Vantage (high intermediate) level.

The results presented here show that the intermediate goals were not met. By 2014, only 6.7% of the high school graduates had achieved a B1 Threshold (pre-intermediate). The goal was 40%. In other words, only 16.8% of the target was reached. On the other hand, 11.1% of university graduates were at a B2 Vantage (intermediate) level. The goal was 20%. In this case, the goal was met in only 55.5%.

What about the English Level in neighboring countries? No assessments have been made in Latin American countries that are comparable to the Colombian context; besides most of the neighboring countries have only recently proposed an English Policy. For example, Chile proposed the National English Strategy 2014–2030 [25], with the English Open Doors Program (PIAP); Peru's English policy has the Gates to the World program (2015–2021) [26] and Uruguay has the English CEIBAL PLAN since 2012. In all three countries, the policies have focused on improving students' performance in English at the initial (primary and secondary) levels of education.

Colombian results show that it is was not feasible to reach the targets set for 2019. Colombia still needs a labor force that can integrate into a globalized economy. The MEN established in 2015 a new program to assess the situation: "National English Program (2015–2025), Colombia Very Well" [27].

The National English Program (NEP) established challenging goals for 2025 for the secondary education: 50% of high school graduates should achieve at least a B1 Threshold (pre-intermediate) level. While for higher education, the goals for 2025 are similar to the ones that were not met: 30% of university graduates should be at a B1 Threshold (pre-intermediate) and 25% at a B2 Vantage (high intermediate). In this case, the MEN did not set intermediate goals, which proved to be useful to reformulate the public policy.

Although these 2025 goals do not appear to be ambitious, the recent history and results show that Colombian government and society should change their policies drastically to reach them.

During 2016 and 2017, the MEN has carried out different programs under the NEP, such as:


The impact of these programs should be evaluated. We presented in this chapter a macro view of the policy, but it is clear that to reach the goals set for 2025, further research to evaluate and formulate specific programs is needed.
