INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

International Academic Partnership Program Brazil Study Tour 2014

Fulbright Brazil

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre – Brazil

April, 2, 2014

Higher Education in Rio Grande do Sul.

Clarissa Eckert Baeta Neves1

Bruno Morche2

The system of higher education in Brazil and Rio Grande do Sul: main

characteristics3

Higher education in the Brazilian southernmost State Rio Grande do Sul sets

forward a scenario and a transformation process that follows the national pattern. The

transformations of higher education (HE) in Brazil in recent decades, especially

concerning how demand is created, and the consequent institutional responses, bring

us to a few basic characteristics of the system: a) the coexistence of the private and

public segments in higher education; b) the qualitative prominence of the federal

system (and the one of some State systems) in the ensemble of Brazilian HE; c) the

strong concentration, in the Ministry of Education, of the prerogatives to formulate

policies, supervise, control and evaluate not only the federal but also the private

systems; d) the weak differentiation of HE offerings as far as academic options are

concerned; and e) the model of funding that commits higher education institutions

(HEIs) to the expansion of enrollments and obliges social inclusion.

Higher education in Rio Grande do Sul: main characteristics

1. Types of higher education institution

1 Associate Professor in the Department and Graduate Program of Sociology at the Federal University

of Rio Grande do Sul. E-mail: clarissa.neves@yahoo.com.br 2 PhD student at the Graduate Program in Sociology at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. E-

mail: brmorche@gmail.com 3 The authors would like to thank Prof. Gerhard Jacob for the review and the suggestions in the text.

2

Public and private HEIs vary according to their administrative status and

academic organization. Public institutions can be established and maintained by the

national (federal), state and municipal governments, and are considered part of the

public service. Private institutions can be community-based, denominational,

philanthropic and for-profit.

Community institutions appeared at the end of the 1980s, as a specific model

of university, characterized as “public, non-state”, strongly connected with the local

and regional communities. Denominational institutions are maintained by religious

organizations and are also philanthropic, the most important being the Catholic

universities. Until 1999, all private institutions were supposed to be non-profit,

although in fact some of them were not. In 1999 the government introduced

legislation (Law 9,870 of 23/11/1999), authorizing private institutions to declare

themselves institutions aiming at profit, submitted to the commercial law regarding

fiscal, para-fiscal and labor charges; i.e. they become liable as commercial entities.

Those who remained non-profit, and entitled to tax exemption, had to demonstrate

that they were in fact philanthropic.

2. Academic organization

In terms of academic organization, HEIs encompass four categories:

universities, university centers4 technological institutes and non-university higher

education institutions. Universities are required to carry out research, undergraduate

and graduate teaching and extramural activities.

From hereon the discussion is restricted to our state of Rio Grande do Sul. We

have 10 public HEIs – 6 federal universities, 1 state university and 3 federal

technological institutes. And 105 private HEIs – 2 denominational and 9 community

Universities; 5 university centers and 88 non-university higher education institutions,

all private.

4 University Center is a higher education institution whose main function is undergraduate teaching,

where none or little research is performed, consequently few graduate courses exist, but with autonomy

to create new courses in its respective areas.

3

Figure 1: Number of higher education institutions by academic organization and

administrative status in Rio Grande do Sul (2012).5

10 70 0

3

105

125

88

0

Total Universities UniversityCenters

Other HEInstitutions

FederalTechnological

Institutes

Public Private

Source: INEP/MEC (2012)

Table 1. Number of higher education institutions by academic organization and

administrative status in Rio Grande do Sul (2012).

Universities

University

Centres

Higher Education

Institutions

Federal Technological

Institutes

Public Federal 6 0 0 3

State 1 0 0 0

Private

Philantropic Denominational 2 3 47

0

Community 9 1 0

For profit 1 1 41 0

Total 19 5 88 3

Source: INEP/MEC (2012)

While the public sector remained limited in size because of its high costs and

stronger academic requirements, the private sector expanded rapidly in response to

growing market demand. Currently, our state has 115 HEIs, which are very different

one from each other. Only 10 of them are public, the other 105 are private. Public

institutions are organized as universities (7) or technological institutes (3). In the

private sector, there is a large variety, with a small number of large universities (12)

and university centers (5) and a large number of small, non-university HEIs (88).

5 Figures and Tables were translated by the authors.

4

3. Undergraduate education

The total of enrollments in undergraduate education in our state is 369.573.

Out of the total enrollments 77% are in the private sector. The distribution of these

enrollments by type of institution is as follows: 69% at universities; 9,3% at university

centers; and 27 % at non-universities HEIs.

Figure 2: Undergraduate Enrollments by academic organization and administrative status in

Rio Grande do Sul (2012)

84.054 78.175

0 0 5.879

285.519

178.201

34.705

72.613

0

Total Universities UniversityCenters

Other HEInstitutions

FederalTechnological

Institutes

Public Private

Source: INEP/MEC (2012)

It is worth highlighting the intense growth, in the last few years, of enrollment

in distance undergraduate courses (19% distant enrollment) and in technological

courses 2.1%.

In the expansion of higher education, characterized by the growing presence of

private institutions, one of the main patterns has been a strong emphasis in the

offering of courses that cost less to implement, namely, Applied Social Sciences.

These courses can be catalogued as “generic”. Bachelors in these fields can work at

different jobs, such as management, human resources, etc.

5

Figure 3: Enrollments in undergraduate studies by fields of education (2012).

Source: INEP/MEC (2012)

The preferential choice for areas that lead to an independent profession, in

Applied Social Science in undergraduate studies, appears as a polyvalent resource,

favoring the perception that in this way, many doors in the labor market can be

opened, in the context of a services society, like Brazil. Already in graduate programs

there is a concentration of enrollment in fields, like Science, Engineering and Health.

One reason for this is that these fields were, since the beginning, structured as

research and graduate programs and have always been a priority in governmental

policies and public investments aiming at the scientific and technological

development of the country.

4. Graduate education

Graduate education, comprising master and doctoral programs have also been

growing, although at a lower pace. Currently there are 312 graduate programs, 195 at

public HEIs and 117 at private HEIs. 104 are only Master Programs; 3 only

Doctorate Programs; 166 Master and Doctorate Programs, and 39 are professional

masters programs.

6

Table 2. Number of graduate programs by degree and administrative status in Rio Grande do

Sul (2012).

Source: CAPES (2013)

Figure 4: Number of Graduate courses by fields of education (2012).

Source: CAPES (2013)

The majority of graduate programs are in the area of Humanities (52),

followed by programs in Health Sciences and Applied Social Sciences.

Table 3: Graduate Enrollments by degree in Rio Grande do Sul (2012)

Source: CAPES (2013)

In Master Programs the number of enrollments is 10,311 and in Doctorate

Programs, 7,390. In contradistinction to undergraduate studies, these courses take

place mostly in public federal HEIs, which show 62% of the enrollment.

7

Figure 6 shows a comparison between enrollment and the number of

scholarships granted by a large area of knowledge. It is worth mentioning the

performance in agro sciences, a strategic area for the State of RS. This area shows 35

programs, occupies the fourth position as far as enrollments are concerned, but

concentrates the largest number of fellowships.

Figure 6: Enrollments and scholarships in graduate studies by fields of education

(2012).

Source: CAPES (2013)

Out of the total, 51 graduate Programs were evaluated with the score6 6 and 7.

17 Graduate Programs were evaluated with the highest score 7; 137 of them belong to

the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; 1 (Chemistry) to the Federal University

of Santa Maria (UFSM) and 1 (Epidemiology) to the Federal University of Pelotas

(UFPel). 2 Programs with score 7 are from private universities (PUCRS - Medicine

and Unisinos - Education).

5 These scores refer to a periodical evaluation, internationally recognized, performed by CAPES (a

governmental institution which fosters undergraduate and graduate education); scores range from 0

(worst) to 7 (best). 7

Computation, Physics, Earth Sciences, Chemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Civil

Engineering, Mining, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Pharmacy, Psychiatry, Anthropology,

Sociology, Psychology and Music.

8

5. Science Without Borders Program

Internationalization is a subject that is gaining increasing relevance both for

public and for private HEIs. Internationalization is used as an instrument that makes a

difference in the outlook for teaching as well as for research. Cooperation agreements,

as well as initiatives to participate in national and international nets, multiply

themselves. In this respect the program Science Without Borders has been of

uttermost importance.

Indeed, governmental actions are committed to expand the economic sectors

aiming at modernization, enabling an increase of the national potential for

technological innovation, in order to strengthen the overall competitiveness of the

country. This has been accompanied by measures to stimulate the formation of human

resources in science and technology that are considered strategic at this stage of the

development. In this direction, the government launched in 2012 the Science Without

Borders Program.

This program aims to support in the next four (now three) years 100,000

students, undergraduates to doctoral, as well as post-doctoral fellows and researchers

in the fields of hard sciences, engineering and health, for training and qualification

activities abroad. It also intends to stimulate the attraction of high-level post-docs and

researchers from overseas to strengthen HEIs and national research institutions in

these areas.

The State of RS has been contemplated with 4,247 fellowships, which means

the fourth place in number of students sent abroad within the program behind USP,

UFMG, and UFRJ. The areas that show the highest figures are engineering and other

technological fields, followed by biology, biomedicine and health sciences.

Undergraduate students have been awarded the largest number of fellowships (78%)

and the majority of them belong to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. As

for the host countries, the US has received 871 students, the largest number, followed

by the United Kingdom (492) Canada (381), France (335) and Germany (325), etc.

9

Figure 7: “Science Without Borders” scholarships by fields in Rio Grande do Sul

(2012).

1.523

851

365

326

302

205

152

133

83

60

55

44

37

34

31

Engineering and other technological areas

Biology and Health Sciences

Creative Industries

Exact and Earth Sciences

Computation and IT

Sustainable Agriculture

Biotechnology

Uninformed

Pharmacon

Sea Sciences

Renewable energy

Biodiversity and Brioprospecting

New technology of Construction Engineering

Nanotechnology and new materials

Oil, Gas and Mineral Coal

Source: CAPES (2013b)

Figure 8: “Science Without Borders” scholarships by university in Rio grande do

Sul (2012).

1.486

558

434

383

228

194

170

140

70

69

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM)

Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)

Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL)

Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG)

University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS)

Federal University of Pampa (UNIPAMPA)

University of Caxias do Sul (UCS)

University of Passo Fundo (UPF)

Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA)

Source: CAPES (2013b)

6. INCTs - National Institutes of Science and Technology

This program aims to promote the best research groups in the frontier areas of

science and in the strategic areas for the sustainable development of the country; and

also to meet international scientific standards in research and to promote innovation

and an entrepreneurial spirit in close cooperation with innovative companies. Special

emphasis is given to consortia of several research institutions, in particular from

different Brazilian States.

In Rio Grande do Sul we have 9 INCTs.

10

Table 4. National Institutes of Science and Technology in the State of Rio Grande do

Sul

Source: CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development). http://www.cnpq.br/

7. Cooperation agreements

Most universities have international co-operation agreements. Shown here are

the examples of UFRGS and PUCRS that you will visit. There are three stages of co-

operation: the first one is the person-to-person exchange; the second one is the signing

of a protocol like a letter of intentions/memorandum of understanding; the third stage

is the formalization of an agreement.

Just as an example:

Table 5. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) cooperation agreements

with US universities.

Institution

01 - Texas A&M University Escola de Engenharia

02 - Texas A&M University Escola de Engenharia

03 - Universidade da Flórida Faculdade de Agronomia

04 - Universidade de Illinois Instituto de Psicologia

05 - Universidade de Clark Instituto de Biociências

06 - Teaching Hospital of Harvard Medical School Faculdade de Medicina

07 - Louisiana State University Instituto de Geociências

08 - University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee CINTED

09 - Brown University PROPG

10 - George Mason University Instituto de Psicologia

11 - Stanford University Faculdade de Educação

INSTITUTO Instituição

INCT de Toxicologia Aquática FURG

INCT em Tuberculose PUC/RS

INCT para Excitoxicidade e Neuroproteção UFRGS

INCT para Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde UFRGS

INCT Translacional em Medicina UFRGS

INCT da Criosfera UFRGS

Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Mar Centro de Oceanografia Integrada (INCT-

Mar COI) FURG

INCT de Hormônios e Saúde da Mulher UFRGS

INCT de Genética Médica Populacional HCPA

11

12 - Universidade de Wisconsin - Madison RELINTER

13 - Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology ICBS

14 - Universidade da Califórnia em Berkeley Escola de Administração

15 - Universidade do Texas em El Paso, Canisius College Escola de Administração

16 - University of Texas em Austin RELINTER

17 - University of Massachusetts Amrhest RELINTER

18 - University of Connecticut IFCH

19 - The Ohio State University CINTED

20 - North Dakota State University Faculdade de Agronomia

Source: UFRGS (2014)

Table 6. Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) cooperation agreements

with US universities.

Institutions

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY – ASU

BALL STATE UNIVERSITY

BROWN UNIVERSITY

FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTORS

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY

NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY - NYFA

SMILE TRAIN

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - UCLA

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA - UCF

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN - UIUC

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS - UNLV

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO

UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO - USF

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY

WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY

Source: PUCRS (2014)

12

8. Final remarks

Internationalization is presently a mandatory activity for the HEIs all over

Brazil. It takes for granted professionalism and clear aims in the management of the

different aspects involved in intensifying mobility of professors, researchers and

students. This subject is being duly considered by the HEIs in the State of Rio Grande

do Sul and its importance is steadily increasing in three aspects: (a) modernization of

undergraduate teaching with a view towards innovation in the education of

professionals; (b) amplification of research outlooks; and (c) needs to develop

organizational really effective structures that enable this process to become efficient

and gratifying for all involved.

Co-operation with North American Universities and Colleges represent a

unique opportunity for our Universities, offering a substantial institutional growth in

all these dimensions. On the other hand, our institutions encompass highly qualified

research groups and graduate programs and are definitely interested in a strong

international insertion.

References

CAPES/MEC (2013). Geocapes Estatísticas. http://www.capes.gov.br/estatisticas. Acessed 25

March 2014.

CAPES/MEC (2013b). Programa Ciências sem fronteiras.

http://www.cienciasemfronteiras.gov.br/ Acessed 21 March 2014

INEP/MEC. Censo da Educação Superior – Divulgação dos Principais Resultados do Censo

da Educação Superior 2012. http://www.inep.gov.br/superior/censosuperior. Accessed 24

March 2014.

INEP/MEC(2012). Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio

Teixeira/Ministério da Educação. Sinopse da Educação Superior. Brasília: INEP/Ministério

da Educação.

PUCRS (2014). Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. http://www.pucrs.br.

Acessed 24 March 2014.

UFRGS (2014). Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. http://www.ufrgs.br Acessed 24

March 2014.