THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS completing higher education in Brazil has fallen for the first time in a decade. There was a 5.7 percent drop in the number of graduates in 2013 compared with 2012 — the first decline in the number of university leavers since 2003. About 991,000 students graduated in 2013, a drop of almost 60,000 on 2012, despite the number of students enroled in courses across the country increasing to 7.3 million. Across the federal system (as distinct from state and for-profit private universities), the number of graduates increased by 3.8 percent.
Among the disciplines to register a decline in graduates are education, health and science, according to this year’s Higher Education Census, released by the ministry of education in September. Higher education experts question whether the decrease is due to financial difficulties among graduates, prompting them to drop out, or whether Brazil has reached the limits of growth after a period of rapid expansion in student numbers.
Jose Henrique Paim, the education minister, says guaranteeing the quality of courses is as important as expansion. “(The drop in graduate numbers) is not worrying because there is a greater concern about quality,” Paim said in a statement issued by the ministry of education.
The census shows the fall in graduates in 2013 occurred mostly within 14 institutions, subject to “supervisory” action by the authorities, sometimes enforcing cuts in the number of student intake. In all, three state institutions and a federal institute had their number of seats cut.
Dr. Fatima Bayma de Oliveira, an education expert with the Getulio Vargas Foundation thinktank, says some areas of higher education in Brazil might have reached their limits in terms of growth. “It’s extremely worrying,” she says. “This census needs to be analysed so that we can understand which professions are seeing a reduction.”
Leandro Tessler, associate professor at Unicamp, the State University of Campinas in Sao Paulo, says the fall could indicate growing problems for students in accessing higher education without scholarships or grants. “We are close to the limit of possibility for (students) paying for courses,” he told Sao Paulo newspaper Estadao.
Earlier this year, the ministry of education closed two universities in Rio de Janeiro — the Universidade Gama Filho and UniverCidade — citing low academic quality and the institutions’ financial positions. The ministry says students from these two universities would be able to graduate elsewhere.
(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)