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- ADMINISTRATION and FINANCE
- All three levels of government (municipal, state and federal) are involved in the financing and provisions of all levels of public education. The responsibility for public education is primarily, but not necessarily, divided as follows: (a) elementary education: the states, the Federal District and the municipalities; (b) secondary education: the states and the Federal District for those matters that lie within their purview; (c) technical, technological and higher education: the Union and the states. The Secretariats of Education for each state are responsible for administering the network of schools belonging to those states and to the Federal District, as well as for the supervision of the private network. At the state level, standards are set by the State Education Councils.
Education is under the supervision of the Ministério da Educaçao e Deportes (Ministry of Education and
Sports), assisted by the National Council for Education. States are directly responsible for the
administration of elementary and secondary education. The Ministry of Education has ultimate control over most aspects of higher education. The principal standard setting agency is the
Conselho Federal de Educaçao (Federal Council of Education).
Brazil's education system is financed by funds from both the public sector (through direct and indirect
administration agencies at the federal, state and municipal levels of government) and the private sector,
which charges tuition fees. The Brazilian Constitution allocates 25 % of state and local tax
revenues to education. The public expenditure on education, as a percentage of GNP, at the present
moment is 4.8%.
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- At the pre-elementary level, there are approximately 94,000 institutions, with 5,718,900 students enrolled. At the elementary level, there are approximately 197, 000, with 36 million students.
Secondary education enrolments in Brazil amount to approximately 20 million students; 13 million
in lower secondary and 7 million in upper secondary.
Higher education is provided by 35 federal universities, 15 state universities, 2 municipal universities and 31
private universities, as well as other establishments - 7 federations and 788 independent establishments - of
which 607 are private, while the remainder function at municipal (90), state (72) or federal (19) level.
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- The Brazilian Educational System is divided into three levels: fundamental, intermediate and higher education. The latter is comprised of two levels: undergraduate and graduate. Preschool or infant education is added to this hierarchy, for the purpose of providing assistance to children less than 7 years of age.
Pre-elementary education is not compulsory and is offered in two types of institutions: day-care centres, or equivalent institutions for children up to the age of 3 and pre-elementary school for children aged 4-6 years. Elementary education is compulsory for all children between the ages of 7 and 14 years, consisting of eight years of education, divided into two four-year cycles. General secondary education lasts three years (grades 5-8), while technical secondary education lasts three or four years (grades 9-11), depending on the vocational certification considered.
Higher education is organized in two levels: undergraduate and graduate studies. The latter may be understood as
lato sensu (free-course, which refers to refresher courses, further education, or specialization courses) or
stricto sensu (strict course, which refers to programs that require previous courses or a diploma, most often referring to Master's and Doctoral programs). Higher education establishments include both colleges and universities. High-level training of professionals for one or more professions or careers is mainly provided by colleges. In addition to the high-level training of professionals, universities must also promote basic and applied research, as well as provide services to the community in the form of courses and other extension activities. Undergraduate programs take four to six years of study, depending on the area of specialization. At the post-graduate level, studies last two to four years in the case of Master's degree courses, and four to six years in the case of Doctoral degree courses.
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- PRIVATE
AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
- Private education plays a very important role in the Brazilian educational system and is mainly administered
by the Roman Catholic Church. The private sector is free to participate at all educational levels, upon
government approval. Public education at the elementary and secondary levels falls under
the jurisdiction of municipalities and state governments. At the present time, as there is no public pre-elementary education, this kind of education has been developed by the private sector.
At the secondary level, the public sector accounts for approximately 85% of all lower and upper secondary
school enrolments. This trend changes at the tertiary level as most students prefer to study in private
universities, as opposed to the public sector.
- The academic year is divided into two semesters; the first from March through mid-July and the second from
August through mid-December. Universities have a winter vacation in July and a summer vacation in
December.
The regular school year is not tied to the calendar year and must include 200 days or 720 hours of actual
work at all educational levels, excluding periods earmarked for examinations.
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- LANGUAGE
OF INSTRUCTIONS:
Portuguese
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- Elementary school teachers are trained at the secondary level. These programs are designed for teachers who want to work with the first four grades of elementary education. They are generally three years in
length and lead to the Diploma de Professor de Ensino de 1 Grau, 1a á 4a séries (Diploma of Elementary School Teacher, grades 1 through 4).
Secondary school training is required at a minimum of three to four years of course work in order to qualify instructors to teach the fifth and sixth grades of elementary, preschool and special education.
To teach the seventh and eighth grades, it is necessary to have university training. Secondary school teachers are trained at the post-secondary level in
Bacharelado (Baccalaureate) or Licenciatura (Licenciate) programs.
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Revised: May 06, 2004
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Copyright © 2001 World Education Services.
All rights reserved.
