The new constitution of Ecuador gives importance to the less privileged social sectors such as indigenous peoples having access to Higher Education, thus responding to the claims of these individuals and their leaders. However, the example of the Universidad Estatal Amazónica (UEA), a university of the Ecuatorian Amazonian region, suggests that a bias exists against the access of indigenous students, due to multiple factors. Results of an empirical study with recently admitted students of this university indicate that indigenous students have more difficulties in passing the admissions test known as the National Higher Education Exam (ENES by its Spanish acronym) of the Secretary of Higher Education (SENESCYT), due to a less than perfect knowledge of the Spanish language which generally is not their mother tongue, not having access to specific test preparatory materials focused on the main areas of this test (mainly language skills and mathematical-abstract skills), a lack of specific information technology skills necessary for this test, and an absence of a reliable IT infrastructure. In words of one student "many communities in the forest lack of material conditions and good level of education to have access to the University". Anxiety in situations of examination did not have significant effect on the exclusion of indigenous students. Beyond the biases which can be shown empirically, it is necessary to elucidate some basic questions about the access of indigenous people to Higher Education: Is it more important that young indigenous people have better access to Higher Education in order to access higher positions in mainstream society even when in conflict with their ancestral values, or is it more important that Higher Education leads to increased autonomy and strengthened indigenous communities?

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This paper evaluates change scenarios in rural communities of the Kichwa Amazonian territory in the Anzu River Valley, Ecuador, in six communities, from Tzawata, at Northeast to Veinticuatro de Mayo at Southwest; at low, medium and high levels of the Anzu river valley. The communities settled since the end of the nineteenth century, came from the Napo province. Study area includes a portion of Kichwa original territory, fragmented by settler possessions, a process that also characterizes the territorial system of which the communities studied are part. The diversity of actors in this territory maintains a growing trend as the colonization process advances, also, the recognition of ancestral rights and community ownership of land, becomes more difficult. The decentralized autonomous local governments don't have competence in the legalization of lands and territories, but they do have competence in the investment for development. The study detected local governments don't include all the communities studied in their area of influence. On the other hand, already in this scenario it is detected that the knowledge of the use of local species is weakened in the communities, as well as their use. The irruption of legal and illegal mining and the persistent threat of oil exploitation create constant conflicts in the Kichwa nation. Strategic foresight, as the basis for the development of the territorial system and its application in the communities studied, necessarily recognizes the forms of indigenous and mestizo community social organization, their identity and ancestral values, times and rhythms of life.

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