Higher Education in Brazil: Stratification in the Privatization of Enrollment

Chapter 5 - The Challenge of Widening Participation to Higher Education in Brazil: Injustices, Innovations, and Outcomes

This study investigated the reversal of gender disparity in enrollment in higher education in Brazil and China (both of whom members of BRICS) from having more male than female students in the past, to now having more female than male students. This reversal began for Brazil in 1988, and for China in 2008. The paper examined factors that contributed to the reversal through employing a qualitative methodology, including an extensive review of literature, analysis of statistical data and official documents from the Brazilian and Chinese governments, the United Nations, as well as the World Bank, and a comparative analysis between Brazil and China, exploring such aspects as feminist movement, legal framework, economic development, expansion of higher education, and demographic factors. The study is significant as it illuminates the evolving landscape of higher education and gender dynamics in Brazil and China to offer valuable insights for other countries for reference. In particular, the case studies on Brazil and China can inform international efforts to address gender disparity and create more inclusive and equitable systems not only in education but also in other fields.

A expansão da educação superior privada no Brasil: do governo de FHC ao governo de Lula

This study was centered in the research line of Labor, Society and Education and its subject fits more specifically into the sub areas: Educational Reforms and Impact on Educational Institutions, dealing with the theme "Formation Policies in Higher Education for Special Education". Immersing ourselves in this context, the thesis defended in this study was that, with the implementation of the Bologna Process, Higher Education in Brazil, as the rest of the world, was significantly affected influencing or even serving as a model for the reorganization of university structures and of higher education systems emerged from Europe. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the Bologna process and its influence in higher education, especially the Brazilian and Portuguese initial formation policies aiming inclusive education. More specifically: 1) analyze the transformations in Brazilian higher education due to the influence of the Bologna Process in regard to the initial formation with a view to Inclusive Education. 2) Identify the transformations in higher education in Portugal and Brazil from the Bologna process and which are the Brazilian and Portuguese specific special education policies for teacher formation. 3) Describe and reflect on the obstacles, barriers and possibilities of teacher formation for Special Education. About the methodological point of view, we did not start our reflection by similarities, but by the differences from the historical process. It was used the documental research, with descriptive and interpretative analysis features. From the empirical point of view, the study was delimited spatially in the two countries (Brazil and Portugal). The study population was composed by Policy Formation documents for higher and special education in both countries. With the theoretical references, was made the confrontation and analysis of all data found in the development of all the research, namely: deadlocks, barriers and notes for the theme in question. As a result, it was evidenced that the special education model proposed by hegemonic groups, through the public policies for the area, carries within, implications for education systems, for schools, for agencies of initial and continuing formation, as well as for formation policies. It is also a consensus that educational reforms, is increasingly gain an international character and this can be understand as a way to also globalize this sector. Thereby, teacher formation has been a root in all countries, as a way to highlight the importance of educational performance for economic growth -which in theory depends on the performance of education professionals. Regarding the formation for Special Education, the fact is that it is not mentioned in the educational debate at the Bologna Process. The gap between education and special education represents, in our understanding, to be the first and most important discrimination, preventing this type of education to discuss its educational praxis, by placing itself into a secondary category, that upon later subtly protrude all the others discrimination -for example, the civil, legal, labor and cultural.

This article deals with the growth of courses and enrollment in higher education in Brazil - and in particular law school - and the change in the profile of the new students, especially the adoption of quota policies and public funding of places in private institutions . Considering the difficulties of these students, seeks to respond to the existing higher education methodology is appropriate or whether it would be necessary to create a new one to serve them. In order to ensure quality in education and to provide the tickets conditions to realize their potential, related measures to be taken.

Unbundling is the process through which products previously sold together are separated into their constituent parts. In higher education, this dynamic has been driven primarily by financial motivations, and spearheaded by the for-profit sector, but also has pedagogical motivations through its emphasis on personalization and employability. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the trend, proposing new conceptual tools with which to map the normative implications. While appearing to offer the prospect of financial viability and increased relevance, unbundling presents some worrying signs for universities: frst, the removal of possible synergies between teaching and research, and between different modes of learning; second, the undermining of the ability of institutions to promote the public good and ensure equality of opportunity; and third, the threat of hyperporosity to the conducting of basic research with long-term benefits.
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\nA desagregação é o processo pelo qual os produtos anteriormente vendidos em conjunto são separados em suas partes constituintes. No ensino superior, esta dinâmica tem sido impulsionada principalmente por motivações financeiras e liderada pelo setor com fins lucrativos, mas também tem motivações pedagógicas através da ênfase na personalização e na empregabilidade. Este artigo apresenta uma análise teórica da tendência, propondo novas ferramentas conceituais para mapear as implicações normativas. Embora pareça oferecer perspectivas de viabilidade financeira e maior relevância, a desagregação apresenta alguns sinais preocupantes para as universidades: primeiro, a remoção de possíveis sinergias entre ensino e pesquisa, e entre diferentes modos de aprendizagem; em segundo lugar, o enfraquecimento da capacidade das instituições de promover o bem público e garantir a igualdade de oportunidades; e, em terceiro lugar, a ameaça de hiperporosidade na realização de pesquisas básicas com benefícios no longo prazo.

Este trabalho, elaborado com base nos indicadores da educação superior produzidos pelo INEP, IBGE e UNESCO, analisa a situação do acesso à educação superior no Brasil nos últimos 40 anos, considerando as diferenças nas matrículas e oferta de vagas entre as dependências administrativas e os cursos, o perfil dos concluíntes e a qualificação dos docentes. Comparam-se também os indicadores de taxa de escolarização e grau de privatização do setor no Brasil com os de outros países da América Latina e do mundo. Por fim, é feita uma breve discussão sobre as últimas ações do MEC (gestão Tarso Genro), com vistas a ampliar a oferta e democratizar o acesso. O que os dados apresentados mostram é que, muito embora desde a década de 1960 a política do governo federal para o setor tem sido a ampliação de vagas via privatização, a Taxa de Escolarização Bruta na Educação Superior do país ainda é uma das mais baixas da América Latina, embora o grau de privatização seja um dos mais altos do mundo. O resultado deste processo foi uma grande elitização do perfil dos alunos, em especial nos cursos mais concorridos e nas instituições privadas, onde é muito pequena a presença de afrodescendentes e de pobres. As propostas apresentadas até o momento pelo MEC norteiam-se pelo princípio de expansão de vagas, sem recursos adicionais, no setor público, e subsídios ao setor privado, em troca de bolsas de estudo. Para democratizar o perfil dos alunos propõem-se quotas, tanto no setor público quanto no privado. Trata-se de medidas paliativas, que não enfrentam a questão central que é a expansão do setor público sem perda de qualidade, o que implica sair do atual 0,8% do PIB gasto com o ensino de graduação para um patamar de cerca de 1,4% do PIB.

The chapter discusses higher education (HE) in Brazil in the last 15 years, a period during which Brazil underwent a process of continuous economic growth and marked social inclusion, with significant impact on HE. Two factors explain the exponential expansion in enrollments in the last two decades; the raising aspirations for the benefits of HE by the students and their families, and changes in the labor market. The chapter starts with a description of the HE system. In the second part, we discuss the profile of the demand for HE in Brazil. In the third part we present how the system as a whole has responded to the challenge of expansion and inclusion. In the fourth and final part, we analyze the characteristics of Brazilian higher education institutions (HEIs) in the offer of courses and the market demand for qualified people. Among other aspects, the chapter shows that it has been easier to respond to the demands for social mobility than to the requirements of a modern economy.

Enrollment in higher education in Brazil has been steadily growing and has reached 7 million recently. However, still only 21% of the population with age between 18 and 24 attend a higher education course. In this paper, we analyze how family income and race (defined in Brazil by self-declared skin color) affect the equity of access to higher education.

Higher education in Brazil has undergone intense transformations, driven by public policies, expansion of the private sector and challenges in regulating the quality of teaching. This article carries out a theoretical review on the evolution of higher education in the country, addressing the impacts of commercialization, the assessment of academic quality and inequalities in access to universities. The research discusses the role of the National Higher Education Assessment System (SINAES) and analyzes student financing policies, such as FIES and PROUNI. Furthermore, it examines the challenges of university autonomy, the impacts of quota policies and the effects of student debt on academic retention. The results point to the need to improve educational policies, both in regulating higher education and in promoting equity and academic quality. The study highlights that, although programs such as PROUNI and FIES have significantly expanded access to higher education, their structure needs to be reviewed to avoid precarious teaching and excessive student debt. Furthermore, the growing influence of private conglomerates raises questions about the standardization of curricula and the loss of academic diversity. Given this scenario, this article concludes that the consolidation of quality higher education in Brazil depends on the implementation of public policies that balance sector growth with effective regulation and financing mechanisms. The search for more inclusive, sustainable education and aligned with the demands of the job market and academic research is essential for national development.

The chapter addresses two aspects of the process of commodification and privatization of higher education in Brazil: the emergence of new providers and public funding for students in the private sector. Two peculiarities distinguish this process in Brazil from other countries: a legal framework that has been under construction since the 1960s, which not only allowed the private sector to grow, but, more recently, opened the way for the emergence of a large for-profit sector; and the predominance since the 1970s of private over public enrollments. The hypothesis is that the advance of privatization and commodification of higher education in Brazil is a function of the structural and normative conditions intrinsic to the development of the country, which, in turn, reveal the correlation of forces among different actors participating in the formulation and implementation of higher education policies since the middle of the last century. The study is based on statistical data, official documents and interviews with private providers.

From the stabilization of the Brazilian economy that occurred in 1994 until the year 2017, there was a considerable increase in access to private higher education. Inclusive policies, that guaranteed access to higher education, increased the number of students in private undergraduate courses by 339% in the period analyzed. The economic stability achieved by the country since the decade of 1994 guaranteed better living conditions for Brazilians who, with educational stimuli, could rise in the escalation of formal university education. The aim of this article is to empirically verify how the improvement in Brazilian’s living conditions is related to access to private higher education. For this, the econometric strategy used was the panel data regression model for the time series of enrollments in higher education in the five major Brazilian regions. The variables that incorporate the living conditions of Brazilians in this study are the real wage, the cost of living, inflation and the unemployment rate. Evidence indicates that, in addition to inclusive policies, real wages and falling living costs were decisive for increasing enrollment in private higher education institutions. It was also revealed that unemployment and inflation in Brazil did not bring about effects that would generate disinterest in the population in attending a university, which was supported by the educational incentives carried out in the country.

The purpose of this article is to present a comparative analysis between the reality and the existing processes of public policy, based on the implementation of Distance Higher Education in Brazil (EAD Superior) as a teaching modality. Although established by Law No. 9394/96 of the Ministry of Education (MEC), this modality was only regulated by Decree No. 2,494 of 1998, which in turn was repealed by Decree No. 5,622 of 2005, rescinded by Decree No. 9,057 of 2017, currently in force. However, it is only from Decree No. 5,622 of 2005, in its Article 2, that the scope for all levels and programs is evident, including Higher Education, which has reached much broader proportions of extension than the face-to-face offer. Thus, this study is a bibliographic and documentary research, through several sources, which served as support for the construction of this work. Among the documents on which it was based, it is worth noting, in addition to those mentioned above, the reports of the 2008 and 2019 Higher Education Censuses, among other materials that contributed in an enriching way to the understanding of the arguments raised during the exploratory integrative bibliographic review. The results of the research allowed us to conclude that this modality of education has been providing, in a significant way, the expansion of the supply of vacancies in higher education and, consequently, the democratization of access, especially in private institutions, aiming to fulfill the purpose as a public policy.

The article is a theoretical reflection of the particularities of Higher Education in Brazil in the area of Social Work and the demands of the private logic that imposes a professional profile aligned with the neoliberal logic, in the countercurrent the organizations of the professional category have been resisting in the defense and in the guarantee of professional training linked to a profile forged in the last thirty years called the Ethical-Political Project.Therefore, it is concluded that it is essential to apprehend the main trends that involve the inseparable relationship between professional training and professional work.

The evolution of higher education in Brazil is described and proposals for its reform analysed. Enrollment growth in the 1970s favoured private institutions and most of the expansion was absorbed by private non-university establishments. The article next examines the financing of higher education in Brazil before turning to efficiency and equity issues. To improve the latter more students from low-income families must complete secondary education and have access to good-quality subsidized higher education. A system of loans and of scholarships for the needy is suggested for a system in which the inequity problems at higher education are a consequence of inefficiencies at the basic education level.