Why Asunción

A Young, Growing Market That International Universities Rarely Visit

Our View

Asunción joins The Student World EXPO Latin America in 2027 as a first for FPP. Paraguay is one of the youngest and fastest-growing economies in South America, its capital concentrates the country's bilingual private schools and professional families, and the national scholarship program BECAL has made studying abroad a visible, aspirational path. Very few international universities recruit here in person, so exhibitors who come first will meet students, families and counselors who are genuinely eager to talk.

FPP can also arrange meetings with bilingual local school counselors and visits to selected schools in the days around the event. If this is of interest, please book these services with your FPP representative well in advance.

Asunción is the capital and economic centre of Paraguay. Its metropolitan area gathers close to 3 million people, roughly 40% of the country's population, and virtually all of its international schools, corporate headquarters, embassies and leading universities.

Palacio de los López, seat of the government of Paraguay, in Asunción

Economy and Families

Paraguay has had one of the most stable macroeconomic records in the region over the past two decades, with sustained growth, low inflation and low taxes. Agribusiness, energy (the Itaipú and Yacyretá dams), trade with Brazil and Argentina, and a growing services sector have produced an upper-middle class in Asunción that is affluent, internationally connected and increasingly focused on education.

The country also has one of the youngest populations in South America, with a median age under 30, which means a large cohort of students reaching university age every year.

Academic Profile & Student Mindset

Asunción's leading private schools (American, German, British and other bilingual institutions, several with IB programs) prepare students in English and, in some cases, German or Portuguese. Locally, the Universidad Nacional de Asunción and the Universidad Católica are the reference institutions, but the private offer abroad is perceived as a step up in quality and recognition.

Students tend to be bilingual, family-oriented and pragmatic, looking for programs with clear career outcomes in business, engineering, medicine and health sciences, law and international relations, agribusiness and technology.

Study Abroad Culture

Historically, Paraguayans who studied abroad went to Argentina and Brazil, for proximity and language. That is changing: BECAL, the national scholarship program for study abroad, has sent more than a thousand Paraguayans to universities in some 27 countries, with Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States as the main destinations, and has raised the visibility of international degrees across the whole upper-middle class.

For universities willing to open a market before the competition, Asunción offers qualified students, families with real financial capacity, strong interest in scholarships and English-taught programs, and counselors who are rarely approached by foreign institutions.

Quality of Life

Asunción is a green, welcoming city on the Paraguay River, with a growing modern business district, a renovated waterfront and a relaxed pace of life. It is well connected by air to São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Lima, Santiago and Panama.

Asunción skyline seen from the Paraguay River

Photos: Palacio de los López, Asunción by Stefano Vigorelli (CC0); Asunción skyline from Chaco'i by P. S. F. Freitas (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.