Expanding Access to Higher Education and Its (Limited) Consequences for Social Inclusion: The Brazilian Experience

This article adopts an historical institutionalism perspective (Pierson, 2011; Pierson & Skocpol, 2002; Thelen, 2014). Its main goal is to understand the lasting dynamics and path dependency processes that constrain the impact of expanding access to higher education (HE) in changing the pattern of social inequalities in a given country. To do this, the article will explore two different aspects of the impact of education on social inclusion: the dynamics associated with production and distribution of portable skills and competences, and the dynamics associated with social stratification. The study follows the experience of Brazilian HE over the last 15 years. In this period, the country experienced a rapid expansion, coming from a total undergraduate enrolment of 2.7 million in 2000 up to nine million in 2016. Nevertheless, the design of this expansion assumed a very conservative pattern. Following a well-ingrained domestic pattern, most of this expansion was absorbed by the country’s huge demand-driven private sector, and into less than half a dozen very traditional types of bachelor programs. Thus, the article argues that by failing to diversify, and by preserving old institutional hierarchies, expanding access to HE in Brazil has rendered less impact than one would expect on the country’s social inequalities

Access To Higher Education In Brazil: The Evolution Of The Last 15 Years

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.1131

Uma análise do acesso à educação no Brasil por jovens de 18 a 24 anos no período de 1995 a 2006

Nao informado

Acesso à educação por faixas etárias segundo renda e raça/cor

São analisadas as contribuições da situação econômica e da raça/cor da pele no acesso à escola, até o ensino superior, considerando as principais transições escolares e grupos etários, usando dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios - PNAD 2003. As variáveis renda e raça/cor afetam com intensidades diferentes as diversas faixas etárias e transições escolares. As restrições que levam ao reduzido percentual de jovens com acesso ao ensino superior dependem do número de vagas neste nível de ensino, mas parecem ser mais determinadas pelo pequeno contingente de jovens brasileiros que consegue completar o ensino médio, atingindo a qualificação formal necessária para o acesso ao ensino superior. Somente 40% dos jovens de 18 a 24 anos possuem o ensino médio completo, sendo que 13% tiveram acesso ao ensino superior. A situação econômica é um determinante mais importante do que a variável raça/cor, embora essa última variável apresente influência em todas as faixas de renda. Finalmente, estuda-se a distribuição dos alunos de ensino superior nesta faixa etária nos estabelecimentos públicos e privados

Strategic Management of Brazilian Universities

In order to respond quickly and effectively to the urgency of increasing participation and improving overall quality, strategic planning is key to improvements in Brazilian higher education. Aiming to stimulate the development of a planning culture, in 2001 the federal government began to require that all higher education institutions prepare an Institutional Development Plan (PDI) in order to get approval for their courses and credentials. Yet there is no single formula applicable to Brazil given the diversity of the sector and the different goals and challenges of public and private institutions

Access to education by age groups, according to income and race/skin colour in Brazil

Data from the National Sample Household Survey - PNAD 2003 was employed to analyse the role of economic status and race/skin colour in access to school, including higher education. Income and race/skin colour variables have a strong impact on the various age groups and school transitions. Constraints that resulted in only a small percentage of young people having access to higher education are dependent upon the number of places the school has to offer at this level of education and even more by the reduced' number of youngBrazilians who manage to finish high school, achievingthe required formal qualification to have access to higher education. Only 40% of youths from 18 to 24 years of age complete high school and a mere 13% of which have access to college. The economic status plays a more important role than race/skin colour, although the latter has an influence throughout all income groups. Finally, the article analyzes the distribution of higher education students within this age group in public and private schools.São analisadas as contribuições da situação econômica e da raça/cor da pele no acesso à escola, até o ensino superior, considerando as principais transições escolares e grupos etários, usando dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios - PNAD 2003. As variáveis renda e raça/cor afetam com intensidades diferentes as diversas faixas etárias e transições escolares. As restrições que levam ao reduzido percentual de jovens com acesso ao ensino superior dependem do número de vagas neste nível de ensino, mas parecem ser mais determinadas pelo pequeno contingente de jovens brasileiros que consegue completar o ensino médio, atingindo a qualificação formal necessária para o acesso ao ensino superior. Somente 40% dos jovens de 18 a 24 anos possuem o ensino médio completo, sendo que 13% tiveram acesso ao ensino superior. A situação econômica é um determinante mais importante do que a variável raça/cor, embora essa última variável apresente influência em todas as faixas de renda. Finalmente, estuda-se a distribuição dos alunos de ensino superior nesta faixa etária nos estabelecimentos públicos e privados.39942

Reflexiones sobre los estudios generales en la educación superior

Es indudable el papel fundamental que cumplen las instituciones educativas en la formación integral de sus estudiantes para que estos sean capaces de enfrentar los desafíos que plantea el mundo contemporáneo. Pese a lo anterior, persiste la tensión entre los componentes del currículo: educación general y educación profesional. ¿Cómo lograr el equilibrio entre ambos y dar cuenta a la sociedad de que las instituciones están cumpliendo con la expectativa de formación que se le ha encomendado? Esta obra está dirigida a docentes, investigadores y directores de instituciones de educación superior, interesados en el diseño, planificación e implementación de programas de estudios generales. Presenta un panorama completo del papel de los estudios generales en algunas instituciones latinoamericanas y cómo han logrado resolver este interrogante