Overview of Higher Education in Brazil

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1 Overview of Higher Education in Brazil Mary Arends-Kuenning University of Illinois Institute for International Education Webinar February 24, 2015

2 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

3 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.

4 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)

5 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

6 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

7 Brazilian University rankings Most regarded ranking by CAPES, related to graduate programs. Graded on a 1-7 scale, peer review system Undergraduate rankings Guia do Estudante ores-faculdades/

8 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)

9 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

10 Secondary school enrollment rates

11 Number of secondary students

12 SAEB scores in Portuguese

13 SAEB Scores in Math

14 Enrollment rates in tertiary education

15 University enrollment, public and private

16 University graduates

17 PISA scores Improvement due to fall in repetition Country with largest performance gains since 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

18 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

19 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

20 References Bruns, Barbara, Evans, David, and Luque, Javier Achieving World-Class Education in Brazil: The Next Agenda. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Centro de Políticas Públicas do Insper Panorama Educacional Brasileiro. São Paulo: Insper. Lam, David and Marteleto, Leticia Stages of the Demographic Transition from a Child s Perspective. Population and Development Review 34(2):

Institutional Obstacles to Brazil s Economic Development. By Werner Baer (University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign

Institutional Obstacles to Brazil s Economic Development By Werner Baer (University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign 1. Until a few years ago Brazil was praised for having attained dynamic growth, with