by Conor Searles
HIGHER EDUCATION IN BRAZIL
Over the past three decades the Brazilian government has been making higher education a priority in one of the fastest developing countries in the world. Resource allocation for higher education has seen a significant increase in an attempt to develop a system of higher education that will create a more educated and active citizenry. Former minister of education, Paulo Renato de Souza, requested of the world bank go asses the state of higher education in Brazil and from there identify factors that could lead to higher education to meet the growing needs of Brazil and its citizens. This assessment consisted of 4 phases:
- Identification of major issues facing Brazilian higher education
- Minister of education
- National education council members
- Federal higher education officials
- World bank staff
- Several Expert policy analysts created background reports for focal point of discussion for policy workshop
- External efficiency (links between higher education and the wider economy)
- Internal Efficiency (cost structures)
- Equity (possible developments in student aid, other measures to promote wider access to higher education)
- Three day policy workshop to create channel of communication for fundamental and long-term change, based on accurate assessment of direction in which higher education must go
- Challenges and options
- Ways in which brazil might address identified issues, mold higher education system to fit 21st century requirements and demands
As it currently stands (as current as 1999 for this source anyway), the current higher education system in Brazil is as follows:
- 1,907 institutions
- 60 federal
- 72 state
- 60 municipal
- 905 private
- 4 types of institutions
- Universities
- “carry out traditional missions of teaching and research at the graduate and undergraduate levels” (world bank study)
- Universities
- University centers, tertiary institutions
- Main mission is teaching
- Multiple Faculty Facilities (federacoes e integradas)
- Non-universities
- Offer programs in more than one subject area (ex: social sciences, technology)
- Single faculty facilities (instituicoes isoladas)
- Non-university
- Offer programs in only one subject area
With a population of over 170 million at the time and despite the large number of institutions of higher education in Brazil, only roughly 15% of the age group was enrolled in higher education institutions. While a majority of the students are enrolled in private institutions (roughly 65%, or 1.5 + million) the public sector enrolled over accounts for 35% (850,000) of the total population enrolled in higher education, half of which attend a federal university while state and municipal universities enroll roughly 1/5 of the total number of students enrolled in higher education. This is rather low compared to other South American countries. Now however there is a greater demand and growing number of Brazilians seeking higher education, as graduation rates from secondary institutions are increasing as well as the older age citizens seeking a degree. Private Colleges help keep up with that demand.
While the quality of education is considered better at public institutions, the problem of competition is much greater, as the students who come from wealthier backgrounds can afford the tuition of private institutions, many middle class and lower class students have difficulty gaining access to these free public institutions. While these middle class students can gain admittance more easily to private institutions, the issue of tuition comes into play and the government does little to offer any form of financial aid.
The Brazilian government currently has in place a three-part strategy to combat all of the above inefficient aspects of higher education, and they are:
- Change the legal framework in which the Higher Education System currently operates at
- Switching to a performance-based funding system, allowing the minister of education more support for his policy goals
- Improving the capacity for evaluating instruction quality and institution performance
Improving capacity for evaluating instructional quality and institution performance has already taken positive steps to help improve the higher education system. The goal of this initiative is so that the Minister of Education’ role switches from that of a “funder of inputs” to that of “a guarantor of minimal standards.” One of the more effective tools for this reform is the Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino superior or in English the coordinating body for improvement of higher education personnel (CAPES), who are responsible for evaluation and the university accreditation system. As it now stands the minister of education has four mechanisms for evaluating higher education, and more specifically undergraduate education in order to make the system more transparent for its citizens.
- Re-accreditation
- The Provao (similar to the SAT)
- Tests achievement of graduating students in the 13 most common career courses
- Students are required to take this, but are not judged on individual performance
- Acts as a measure of quality of instruction
- Institutional evaluation
- Higher education census
There is reason to be optimistic for the future of higher education in Brazil. Not only is the higher education system implementing system wide changes, but so are the primary and secondary education systems. Education is becoming more of a valued commodity in Brazil, and as the country grows economically, so will its education systems. The higher education system in Brazil is still relatively new, and the emphasis being placed on the education system as a whole shows that this will be a priority of the Brazilian government in the years to come. If Brazil hopes to continue its progress of becoming a major global power, and signs are certainly indicating that they are, then they must develop a system of higher education that will prepare their workforce for the demands that come with it. Their path to economic success begins with a system of education that will properly educate and train their workforce to be competitive in the global economy.
The Penn State/ Brazil Connection 