LATIN AMERICAN CENTER OF
RESEARCH IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Brazil
The process of massification of Brazilian education was characterized by expansion with inclusion based on socioeconomic, racial and age criteria, etc. Inclusion that in absolute terms was driven by the private segment.
Brazil
Brazil has undergone a significant expansion of higher education. This is due to several factors, including the increased demand for qualified professionals and the appreciation of higher education diplomas in the job market. But despite the increase in enrollment, we still have several challenges ahead. It is necessary to invest in improving the quality of teaching and in the inclusion of students from all social classes.
Population: 203.1 million inhabitants
Area: 8,510,000 km²
Portuguese language
Higher Education Enrollment: 8,033,574
The Brazilian Higher Education System
Training
Although it can be said that there were higher education courses at the time of the colony and, above all, during the Empire (1822-1889), it was only in the 1930s that the embryo of a higher education system was established in Brazil. The political project of the first Vargas administration (1930-1945) envisaged the formation of a centralized government, with the structuring of national institutions, in contrast to the federalism of the First Republic (1989-1930). In this context, the Ministry of Education was created (1930) and, subsequently, the publication of the Statute of Brazilian Universities (1931), which provided that higher education should be organized preferably in Universities, but also regulated the activities of institutes and colleges. isolated. The formation of a higher education system (university and non-university) began, subject to regulation and, subsequently, evaluation by national bodies and instances. The University of São Paulo, created in 1934 by the São Paulo government, required approval from the Ministry of Education to establish itself as such.
Between the 1930s and 1960s, a series of laws and institutions were created to expand enrollment, promote research and train staff for the public and private sectors. The Law of Guidelines and Bases of 1961 established the formation of education systems at different stages (primary, secondary and technical), with the higher education system comprising the university and non-university segments offering undergraduate, postgraduate and specialization courses. . Also noteworthy during this period was the formation of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), both in 1951, and the Financier of Studies and Projects (FINEP) in 1967.
The University reform of 1968 shaped the higher education model for the following decades. The Humboldtian conception of university, with the inseparability of teaching and research, would be the responsibility of public universities and a few private denominational universities, while the demand for vocational education would be the responsibility of private colleges and establishments. In the 1970s until the promulgation of the Brazilian Federal Constitution in 1988, the number of establishments and enrollments in the private segment expanded. It is noteworthy that in this model there is a complementary relationship between the public and private sectors (Sampaio, 2000). While the private sector grows from isolated institutes with an increase in courses and vacancies, the public sector invests in research and the consolidation of postgraduate studies.
The Federal Constitution of 1988, the Law of Guidelines and Bases of 1996 and decree 2,306/1997 brought new elements to the configuration of the system. The Constitution reinforced the autonomy of Universities and the then University Centers for the creation and extinction of undergraduate courses and the LDB and the 1997 decree regulated private higher education with the possibility, until then not foreseen in the legislation, of higher education institutions with profit purpose. Such changes reorganized the private segment, whether through the option of organizing itself into Universities and University Centers (to free itself from control over the opening and closing of courses, for example), or through the opportunity to increase profits from higher education. The bases that allowed the expansion of Brazilian higher education in the 21st century have been formed, to be seen in the next section.
Figure 1 – Main Historical Milestones of Brazilian Higher Education
Prepared by the author
Expansion with inclusion: massification of the 21st century
At the threshold of the 21st century, a basket of policies and actions related to higher education enabled the process of expansion and massification of this stage of education. The National Education Plan (2000-2010), by establishing a set of goals for enrollment in the higher education system, encouraged federative entities, notably federal and state governments, to seek actions to expand institutions, courses and vacancies .
Considering the relationship of mutual dependence between the private and public segments in the provision of Brazilian higher education, two sets of policies, one aimed at the private sector and the other at the public, enhanced the strong expansion observed in the first two decades of the 21st century. On the private segment side, the creation of the University for All Program (Prouni), in 2005, and the Higher Education Student Financing Fund (Fies) in 1999, with its important reformulations in 2007 and 2010. For the public segment, the creation of the Support Program for Restructuring and Expansion Plans of Federal Universities (Reuni), in 2007, of the Federal Network of Professional and Technological Education, in 2008, as well as the 2012 Quota Law that expanded enrollment and diversified access to public universities.
Figure 2 – Main policies and actions related to Brazilian Higher Education in the 21st century
Prepared by the author
It is important to consider that access to higher education was also facilitated by the creation and strengthening of the National Secondary Education Examination (Enem), which from 2004 onwards became the gateway to the public segment via the Unified Selection System (Sisu), as well as for student credit (Fies) or scholarship (Prouni) policies for the private sector.
Figure 3 illustrates this expansion movement.
From 2000 to 2022, enrollment in undergraduate courses increased by 350%. It went from 2.6 million students to 9.4 million in 2022.
As can be seen, it was from 2000 onwards that enrollments expanded, both in the private and public segments. Like every expansion movement, this one is related to institutional, political and economic factors. In relation to the latter, it can be seen that the pace of expansion is more intense until 2015, cooling down with the economic and political crises experienced from this year onwards, as well as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The system becomes more widespread as end of the 2010s, when it reaches 15% of the net enrollment rate. In 2022 it reaches 38.6% gross enrollment rate and 20.2% net rate. Despite the advances, it is far from reaching the goals of the National Education Plan for 2024, which is 50% gross enrollment rate and 33% net enrollment.
Main characteristics of the massification process of Brazilian Higher Education
This is a characteristic phenomenon of the 21st century enhanced by inclusion and financing policies: Prouni/Fies for the private sector and Reuni/Rede Federal/Lei de Quotas for the public
Driven by the expansion of primary and secondary education and the inclusion of students with unfavorable socioeconomic characteristics, both in the flow (young people aged 17 to 24) and in the stock (older students). 90% of higher education students belong to classes C, D and E (Capelato, 2021)
Driven by the private sector, which holds around 75% of enrollments, but with a relationship of dependence on the public sector.
System that included (poor, black, brown, indigenous people and people with disabilities), but which reinforced horizontal inequalities in terms of institutions, courses, shifts and teaching modalities
More recently, concentrated in a few institutions with a predominance of distance learning
University for All Program (Prouni)
Created in 2005, its objective is to grant scholarships to students from private institutions. For students with a per capita family income of up to 3 minimum wages, a 50% scholarship. For students with a per capita family income of up to 1 Minimum Wage, a 100% scholarship. Scholarships are offered to public school teachers (degree and pedagogy courses) regardless of their family income. There is an affirmative component to this policy, since scholarships must be allocated to black, mixed-race, indigenous, disabled students and graduates of institutional and family care services according to the percentage of the population from the last Demographic Census in the state of the federation where the IES is located.
Institutions that join the program are exempt from the main federal taxes (PIS-PASEP), (COFINS), (IRPJ) and (CSLL). The number of scholarships is limited per institution and per course. In general, it is limited to around 10% of IES students.
Figure 4- Distribution of the number of Prouni scholarships (2005-2020)
Between 2005 and 2020, almost 3 million scholarships were awarded
The percentage of Black, Brown and Indigenous people increased by 21.8 percentage points between 2005 and 2020. It reached around 60% of scholarships in 2020
The percentage of scholarships awarded to private, for-profit institutions and in distance learning also grew, following the movement of the system as a whole: 15 and 27 percentage points respectively
Higher Education Student Financing Fund (Fies)
Educational Credit Program created in 1999, based on previous student credit policies. In the beginning, it financed up to 70% of registration and monthly fees with the need for a guarantor. In 2007, financing could reach up to 100%, with the need for a guarantor.
In 2010, a broad reformulation of the program took place. The need for a guarantor is eliminated, the fund's resources are significantly increased, interest rates are reduced and the protection of HEIs in relation to defaulted contracts is increased. Fies became the policy with the greatest impact on Brazilian education, accounting for around 17% of higher education enrollments in 2015. With the 2015 crisis, the program drastically reduced contracts, revived the need for guarantors and raised interest rates.
Figure 5- Evolution of federal government investment in FIES and number of new contracts carried out in Brazil (2011-2020)
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The number of new Fies contracts increased 4.7 times in 4 years. From 154 thousand in 2011, to 731 thousand in 2014.
From 2015 onwards there was an abrupt drop in contracts, becoming a residual program in 2020 (47 thousand contracts)
Between 2010 and 2017, the percentage of Black, Brown and Indigenous students in the program increased by 23.5 percentage points, reaching 60% of the total number of students. Considering the same period, the increase in students with a per capita income of up to 1 minimum wage grew by 42 percentage points, reaching around 75% of students
As educational contracts have an average duration of 4 years, even with the drop observed in 2015, the volume of federal government investment continued to rise until 2017, when it reached 225 billion reais, and remains relevant until 2020 (47 billion reais) .
The temporal difference between the fall of new contracts and program financing allowed HEIs to develop strategies for the transition to a scenario without Fies, but maintaining the investment of resources during the transition.
Sources: Scudeler (2022), Tagliari, Barbosa (2020), Hoper Educacional (2023)
Expansion of the Federal Higher Education Network
Between 2003 and 2007, a process of internalization of the federal network took place, with the creation of 10 Universities and 100 new campuses.
In 2007, the Support Program for Restructuring and Expansion Plans of Federal Universities (Reuni) was created, which made resources available for physical expansion, hiring teachers, increasing vacancies in undergraduate courses, expanding the offer of evening courses, among other actions. .
In 2010, the National Student Assistance Plan (Pnaes) was created to support Reuni in expanding inclusion and retention policies for students.
Figure 6- Municipalities offering in-person courses or with an EAD hub offered by the federal higher education network (2005-2022)
Figure 7- Evolution of the number of enrollments in the Federal Network, by teaching modality (2005-2022)
The number of municipalities served by federal universities increased from 114 in 2003 to 237 in 2011
In 2022 there were 68 federal universities, 23 of which were created since 2003
The number of enrollments at Federal Universities more than doubled in 10 years, from 641 thousand students in 2007 to 1.3 million in 2017.
In 2012, law 12,711 , known as the Quota Law, established the obligation to reserve 50% of places for public school students, with per capita family income up to 1.5 minimum wages, black, mixed race, indigenous people and students with disabilities ( incorporated in 2016) in federal universities and federal institutes of education, science and technology. Implemented from January 2013, the Law is the result of an intense debate in the National Congress and drew on previous experiences such as that of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and the University of Brasília (UnB), both implemented since 2003. .
The 50% quota for public school students is divided into three sub-quotas. 1) for students with a per capita income of up to one and a half minimum wages; 2) for self-declared black, brown and indigenous students and 3) for students with disabilities.
Figure 8- Distribution of quotas and sub-quotas considering criteria of income, color/race and people with disabilities
Figure 9: Entrants to face-to-face courses at federal universities by type of vacancy applied for (2010-2019)
Update of the Quota Law - Text by Luma Doné CLICK HERE
In 2019, around 40% of entrants to federal universities had access to public education through some type of place reservation. This is an increase of 30 percentage points compared to 2010.
The number of black and mixed-race students increased from 41% of total enrollment in the federal network in 2010 to 52% in 2020. If indigenous students are also included, the number rises from 42% to 53%, considering the same period
Recent trends in Brazilian higher education: concentration with expansion of distance learning
In the second half of the 2010s, based on the scenario of reduction of Fies resources and the economic and political crises that accentuate them, the profit-oriented private sector prepares the transition to a context without major direct investments from the federal government in educational credit. . The option appears to have been to invest in some undergraduate courses in the health area and, above all, in courses with low monthly fees offered remotely, taking advantage of the residual period of federal investment in Fies contracts signed before the crisis (Fig. 5). Instead of Laws, it was decided to make the offer of distance learning courses more flexible and deregulate through decrees (2017) and ordinances (2019) as shown in Fig. 2.
Figure 10: Number of people enrolled in higher education by teaching modality (1980-2022)
Figure 10: Number of entrants into higher education by teaching modality (2012-2022)
Figure 11: Distribution of enrollments in the 10 largest undergraduate courses by teaching modality (2022)
The growth in enrollments in distance learning courses occurred mainly from 2017 onwards, when the rules for opening courses in this modality became more flexible.
In 2020, those taking distance learning courses outnumber those taking on-site courses
In 2022, 71% of private students enrolled in distance learning courses. In the public network, the number of students entering this type of education was 13%
The face-to-face courses with the most enrollments are those with the greatest social prestige (law, medicine and others in health)
In 2021, the average monthly fee for in-person courses was R$758.00 (US$151.00) per month. For distance learning courses, it was R$248.00 (US$49.00).
Between 2018 and 2019, 6 private higher education institutions/conglomerates accounted for 64.6% of distance enrollments.
By 2022, 5 private higher education institutions/conglomerates accounted for 27% of higher education enrollments (more than the 312 public HEIs).
There were 171 teachers for every average private distance learning student. In public face-to-face courses, the average was 11 teachers per student.
Advances and Challenges
The process of massification of Brazilian education was characterized by expansion with inclusion based on socioeconomic, racial and age criteria, etc. Inclusion that in absolute terms was driven by the private segment.
This is a "segregative democratization" (Merle, 2000 apud Chiroleu, 2013), that is, there is growth in enrollment with an increase in horizontal stratification. It is a divergent system in which the segregation of previous stages leads to “natural” paths to higher education. Students from families at a socioeconomic disadvantage or with low educational dispositions go to less prestigious institutions, courses and teaching modalities.
An expansion that depended on the direct action of the State, whether in the investment of resources to the private system (financing and scholarships), or in the relaxation of legislation in relation to the distance learning modality
Data from the 2022 Demographic Census indicate that the country is rapidly experiencing the so-called “demographic bonus”, of having the majority of its population at an economically active age. In the last 20 years the population over 60 has doubled. Furthermore, only 22% of young people between 18 and 24 years old had finished high school. Such demographic changes affect the demand for higher education, especially in a country like Brazil that has problems meeting the flow and stock of students for this stage of education.
High concentration of enrollments in a few for-profit institutions
System Structuring
Figure 12: Legal and Administrative Organization of Brazilian Higher Education
Source: Marissol Quintiliano Santos (2024)
Figure 13: Organization of Brazilian Higher Education by type of institution
Source: Marissol Quintiliano Santos (2024)