Digital fragility and academic continuity: the impact of the 2024 energy crisis on hybrid higher education in Ecuador
Abstract This research examines the impact of the national power outages during the last quarter of 2024 on students in the hybrid modality at the Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi (UPEC) [State Polytechnic University of Carchi], Ecuador. The study analyzes the effects on academic continuity, access to digital resources, and student persistence. Adopting a mixed-methodological approach, a survey was administered to 177 affected students to identify their adaptation strategies and the socioeconomic barriers encountered. The results reveal a significant energy-digital gap, where students resorted to precarious solutions such as mobile data consumption and portable power units, facing high costs and logistical limitations. Furthermore, the findings evidence a decline in student motivation, with a critical proportion considering academic withdrawal due to systemic uncertainty. The discussion highlights the urgency of moving beyond traditional contingency planning toward energy-resilient educational models. It concludes that the sustainability of hybrid education in Latin America is structurally dependent on basic infrastructure, challenging the assumption of universal digital ubiquity.