Enrollment by quotas more than tripled in seven years

The number of quota enrollments in public higher education in Brazil more than tripled from 2009 to 2016, going from 1.5% to 5.2%. In the same period, there was also an increase (28.1%) in the proportion of enrollments in private universities with the University for All Program (ProUni) – from 5.7% to 7.3%.

In face-to-face higher education (bachelor) courses at public institutions, enrollments increased from 809,000 to 1.2 million. In the same period, the numbers were higher in private institutions. Enrollments in these courses grew from 2.8 million to 3.9 million.

The admission rate to higher education for students who had attended the previous years in a private school is more than double that of those who studied in the public network. There is a big difference between those who finished high school in public schools. Among students, 35.9% managed to enter higher education, while those from private institutions accounted for 79.2%.

The data are part of the Summary of Social Indicators 2018, released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The study brings a set of information from the social reality of the country. The work prepared by researchers from the institution has as its main source of data for the construction of indicators the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD) of 2012 to 2017.

Studies also indicate that Brazil has not reached the goal of universalizing preschool. From 2016 to 2017, the group of children aged 4 and 5 who attended school or daycare increased by 90.2% to 91.7%, but still insufficient to reach the goal of universalization of the National Education Plan (PNE). “[The PNE aims] to universalize, by 2016, early childhood education in preschool for children aged 4 to 5 years old and expand the offer of early childhood education in day care centers in order to serve at least 50% of children up to 3 years old by the end of the term of this PNE", highlighted the IBGE.

Even without reaching universalization, the institute pointed out that Brazil is close to the average of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) regarding access to preschool. The rate of 4-year-old children in schools or daycare centers in Brazil was 87.1%. Compared to OECD countries, it is just below the average of 88%, ranking 27th out of 35 countries – ahead of Chile, Finland and the United States.

Barrier

The study also indicated that working is the main reason why young people do not study. In the population with complete and incomplete secondary education, men did not study mainly because they needed to work, look for work or wait for work to start (52.5% in the first group and 48.9% in the second). This reason was also relevant for women (23.2% and 33.6% respectively).

The study highlighted that there is a considerably higher percentage among them. The reason for the lack of studies was dedication to household chores and care, which concentrated 39.5% of young women without secondary education and 14.7% of young women with secondary education who had not finished school higher.