Overview of Higher
Education in Brazil
Mary Arends-Kuenning
University of Illinois
Institute for International Education
Webinar
February 24, 2015
Brazilian Higher Education
 Brazil has historically had one of the highest rates
of inequality in the world
 The educational system reflects this inequality
and, in turn, generates inequality
 Biggest policy challenge is to break this cycle
 Time of very big changes in higher ed
 Quotas
 Admissions process
Generating Inequality
 Brazil has very poor public schools at the basic
and secondary school levels.
 Underinvestment and neglect until President
Cardoso in the mid 1990s.
 Rich people attend high quality, expensive
private schools, poor attend poor quality public
schools
 At university level, public universities are very
high quality, free, and very difficult to get in to.
Undergraduate admissions
 In transition from university entrance tests
(vestibular) to national standardized test (ENEM)
 High school students apply to specific programs
within universities (medicine, business, law, etc.)
 Vestibular—two stages, general and subject. Big
investment of time and money to study for test
 Admissions based solely on exam score rankings
 Very selective (9 % acceptance in UFPE)
Combating inequality
 Quotas for public school students and for racial groups
 Switch from vestibular to ENEM
 Test scores correlated with economic status
 Enrollment increased, conditional cash transfer program
Bolsa Familia
 Crucial to improve public schooling throughout the
system
 Increase access to schools—focus in 1990s
 Now, area of policy focus is quality of education
Quotas
 August 2012 President Dilma signed bill legislating
quotas
 50 percent of all places in each degree program
in federal universities for students from public
schools
 Racial quotas based on states’ populations
 Sao Paulo followed suit for USP.
 SP difference—2 years of prep college during
which students receive a stipend of $140/month
Brazilian University rankings
 Most regarded ranking by CAPES, related to
graduate programs.
 Graded on a 1-7 scale, peer review system
 http://avaliacaotrienal2013.capes.gov.br/
 Undergraduate rankings Guia do Estudante
 http://guiadoestudante.abril.com.br/blogs/melh
ores-faculdades/
Basic education in Brazil
 Policies are focused at higher education level
 Long-term change has to come from improving
the opportunities for poor students at the primary
and secondary level
 Private interest in improving education
(Fundacao Lemann)
Demography and education
 Fertility decline leads to a “demographic gift”
 Importance of cohort size (Lam and Marteleto
2008 Population and Development Review)
 Children ages 15 to 17, mothers’ education
increased from 5 to 6.5 years.
 Great conditions for improving education
Secondary school enrollment
rates
Number of secondary students
SAEB scores in Portuguese
SAEB Scores in Math
Enrollment rates in tertiary
education
University enrollment, public and
private
University graduates
PISA scores
 Improvement due to fall in
repetition
 Country with largest
performance gains since
2003
 67 percent low performers in
math
 In Korea and Shanghai, only
5 and 3 percent of students
scored so low
 Only 1 percent at highest
level
Accountability
 Basic Education Development Index
 Test scores on SAEB/Prova multiplied by pass rate
 Scores are publicized by school
 Targets for individual schools to improve
Conclusions
 Brazilian higher education reflects a legacy of
extreme inequality
 Challenge to make university education
accessible to the poor
 Cause to be optimistic—demography and will to
change schools
References
Bruns, Barbara, Evans, David, and Luque, Javier.
2010. Achieving World-Class Education in Brazil:
The Next Agenda. Washington, DC: The World
Bank.
Centro de Políticas Públicas do Insper. 2010.
Panorama Educacional Brasileiro. São Paulo:
Insper.
Lam, David and Marteleto, Leticia. 2008. Stages of
the Demographic Transition from a Child’s
Perspective. Population and Development
Review 34(2): 225-252.