With the booming economy in Brazil, policy and education leaders are discussing ways that businesses can work with universities to meet citizens’ needs, open access without sacrificing quality, and to understand the purpose of education. Even though it is the fifth largest economy, Brazil currently does not have a single university ranked in the world’s top 200 universities.
As few as 30 years ago, having a bachelor’s degree was considered an advantage reserved only for the “elite”. There is the option for public universities, private universities, and technical schools. Overall, technical schools are disregarded by both the market and the public. More than 95% of students in higher education attend a private institution, for the government did not invest in education for many years and as a result the private market took over to pay for the demand of universities. Loans were not made available by the government until the beginning of the 21st century, leaving education to be paid for entirely by the families.
In Brazil the education system is also considered a “market system”. Students who attend private universities do not need to pay in advance for their education, and if they stop paying tuition during the year the school is required to allow the student to finish the year. If they finish out the year, the student then has the legal right to ask for his report and transfer all his credits from the year to another institution. Over the years, the students have become clients for universities. The quality of education at these private universities is drastically worse than in the public, with the bottom 20% of public school scores beating out the top 20% in private. But the past decade the government has implemented policy and invested money into improving these situations.
According to the OECD, in the past decade Brazil has had one of the highest expenditure increases in the world towards education. As a country with considerable inequalities in school participation due to class, ethnicity, and location, Brazil is one of the few Latin American countries to have increased school attainment in the lowest classes. Most Brazilian students attended under-funded public schools for primary school, that initially had a social context to “'take children off the streets” as opposed to providing youth with proper education. But Brazil is actively trying to change that former mantra, by increasing the attainment of students in secondary and tertiary schools and decreasing the 20%unemployement rate of youth ages 15-29.
Despite the increase in expenditure, the country has 2,400 universities and growing at a pace of 5-6 new ones every month, a statistic that makes it almost impossible for the government to keep up. Even with institutional growth in the last decade, over 50% of Brazilian high school students do not graduate, and much of the population lives in poverty and sickness. The debate now is how to expand and use the growth in a way that both expands learning and serves the country.
For more information and sources:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002300/230021e.pdf
As few as 30 years ago, having a bachelor’s degree was considered an advantage reserved only for the “elite”. There is the option for public universities, private universities, and technical schools. Overall, technical schools are disregarded by both the market and the public. More than 95% of students in higher education attend a private institution, for the government did not invest in education for many years and as a result the private market took over to pay for the demand of universities. Loans were not made available by the government until the beginning of the 21st century, leaving education to be paid for entirely by the families.
In Brazil the education system is also considered a “market system”. Students who attend private universities do not need to pay in advance for their education, and if they stop paying tuition during the year the school is required to allow the student to finish the year. If they finish out the year, the student then has the legal right to ask for his report and transfer all his credits from the year to another institution. Over the years, the students have become clients for universities. The quality of education at these private universities is drastically worse than in the public, with the bottom 20% of public school scores beating out the top 20% in private. But the past decade the government has implemented policy and invested money into improving these situations.
According to the OECD, in the past decade Brazil has had one of the highest expenditure increases in the world towards education. As a country with considerable inequalities in school participation due to class, ethnicity, and location, Brazil is one of the few Latin American countries to have increased school attainment in the lowest classes. Most Brazilian students attended under-funded public schools for primary school, that initially had a social context to “'take children off the streets” as opposed to providing youth with proper education. But Brazil is actively trying to change that former mantra, by increasing the attainment of students in secondary and tertiary schools and decreasing the 20%unemployement rate of youth ages 15-29.
Despite the increase in expenditure, the country has 2,400 universities and growing at a pace of 5-6 new ones every month, a statistic that makes it almost impossible for the government to keep up. Even with institutional growth in the last decade, over 50% of Brazilian high school students do not graduate, and much of the population lives in poverty and sickness. The debate now is how to expand and use the growth in a way that both expands learning and serves the country.
For more information and sources:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002300/230021e.pdf