BRAZIL EDUCATION FACT SHEET

Education System
Pre-school/Educao Infantil (ages 0-6): Optional, to help the development of children under 6 years old. Some public preschools are provided by the government. Elementary school/Ensino Fundamental (ages 6-14): Mandatory. Public elementary schools are funded by municipal and state governments. Secondary school/Ensino Mdio (ages 14-17): Mandatory for those wishing to pursue higher education. Public middle schools are provided by state governments. Higher Education/Ensino Superior: Optional. Competitive entrance examination generally more difficult for public universities. Under graduation (Bacharelado or Lincenciatura): 4, 5 or 6 years, depending on the course and University. Graduation (Ps-Graduao): master and doctorate courses. Entrance requires having completed an undergraduate course and going through the selection process established by the institution.

Illiteracy
Distribution of 15 years old or older people, illiterate, by sex, according to age groups
1999 (1) 2009
34.50%
21.10% 42.60%

Level of English
English Proficiency Index 2011 Rank 1 2 3 16 18 29 30 31 32 Country Norway Netherlands Denmark Argentina Mexico China India Brazil Russia EF EPI Score 69.09 67.93 66.58 53.49 51.48 47.62 47.35 47.27 45.79 Level Very high Proficiency Very high Proficiency Very high Proficiency Moderate Proficiency Moderate Proficiency Low Proficiency Low Proficiency Low Proficiency Low Proficiency

35.50%

34.40%

17.40%

10.10%
4.60%

15-24

25-39

40-59

60 or more

The decrease of illiteracy for 15-39 years old people can be explained by the school enrolment rate, which increased 3.4% for 6-14 years old people and 16.7% for 15-17.

Fluency in English - 2011

28.20%

Funding of Education
Public Expenditure on education (% of GDP)
5
5.1

23.50%

24.90%

12.40% 7.50%

3.40%

4.7

4.8

4.8

4.6

5.5

5.7

5.8
Do not speak Do not speak English English, but can read texts and/or listen to simple conversations Read texts and Read, speak, Read, speak, Read, speak, listen to simple listen to and listen to and listen to and conversations, write about with write well about write fluently speak and write some difficulty daily subjects about any basic sentences daily subjects and specific subject and specific subjects related subjects related to his/her area to his/her area

4.5

4.5

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Relative proportion of public expenditure on education by level of education

Pre-School Secondary School 80.00% 60.00% Elementary School Higher Education

The chart above shows that only 10.9% of Brazilians have satisfactory ability to read, speak, write in and listen to English. Other 85.5% are able to communicate in the language, but in a poor level. This explains the Brazilian position in the English Proficiency Index, achieving a low proficiency level. The Brazilian`s low proficiency in English makes some companies hire employees that sometimes do not have the desirable skills for the job, but can speak English. The English teaching, however, is growing: from 2010 to 2011, the revenues of the 73 English school networks in Brazil improved 11%, achieving R$ 3.1 billion.

40.00% 20.00% 0.00%

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Popular University Courses

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Course Business Administration Law Teaching Training Engineering Nursing Accounting Sciences Media and Communication Language Physical Education Biological Sciences N of Enrolments (2009) 1,100,000 651,000 573,000 420,000 235,800 235,200 221,000 194,000 165,000 152,000

Annual expenditure per student from primary to higher education - 2008 (in US$)
China Brazil Mexico Argentina Russia UK 1,593.14 2,416.10 2,763.47 3,204.00 4,878.43
10,051.37 14,922.76

BRAZIL EDUCATION FACT SHEET

Education in the World
The Education for All (EFA) Development Index and its components, 2008 Ranking according to level of EDI 1 2 3 4 5 36 49 57 88 107 Countries Japan UK Norway Kazakhstan France Uruguay Chile Mexico Brazil India

2. Prouni The University for All Programme Prouni, a government`s scholarship programme, aims to grant full and partial scholarships in undergraduate and specific training courses, in private institutions of higher education, for public schools students and private schools students who count with full scholarships, with a family per capita income not bigger than three minimum salaries. Some of the scholarships must be destined to black, pardo and indigenous students and to those with special needs. Created by the Federal Government in 2004, it offers, in contrast, exemption from some taxes to those educational institutions that adhere to the programme.

Number of Scholarships offered by year

Full Partial
125,510 98,698
71,905 153,126

* The EFA Development Index (EDI) is a composite index that provides an overall assessment of a countrys education system in relation to EFA a UNESCO programme that aims to achieve universal primary education, adult literacy, gender parity and equality and quality of education.

97,631
66,223

99,495

94,517

125,922 115,351

129,672 124,926

Business Opportunities
Massive training and re-training in several sectors of the Brazilian economy (telecom, healthcare, oil and gas, construction, retail and financial sectors) Technological equipment is in demand (ICT for education) Distance learning (in areas outside the main urban centres where education provision is weakest) MBAs: especially in management training and business administration Special educational needs
Source: UK Trade & Investment

40,370

39,970

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

3. Quotas Each public university has the right to determine if the quotas will be adopted and how they will be applied. Currently there is a project of law waiting to be evaluated by the President of the Republic that proposes 50% of the positions in public universities to be destined to public school students with half of this number for the racial cases. For private universities, there is the Prouni programme. The universities are not obliged to adhere to it, but those who accept to do it, gain some financial privileges.
Quotas in Federal Universities 2012 36 of 59 federal universities have racial and/or social quotas programs 32 have quotas for public schools students 25 have some kind of racial quota 21 have quotas for black or pardo(1) people 19 have quotas for indigenous people 7 have quotas for deficient people 1 has quotas for quilombolas(2)
(1) Pardo is a race/skin color category used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in Brazilian censuses. It is a Portuguese word that encompasses various shades of brown, but is usually translated as "grayish-brown". (2) Quilombola is a resident of a Quilombo in Brazil. They are the descendents of slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888.

Government Programmes
1. Science without Boarders Science without Borders is a programme that seeks to promote the consolidation, expansion and internationalization of science and technology and of the Brazilian competitiveness through exchange and international mobility. Its purpose is to attract foreign researchers wishing to settle themselves in Brazil or to establish partnerships with Brazilian researchers in the priority areas defined by the programme, as well as to create opportunity for researchers to receive specialized training abroad. The Goals for 2015 are:
Modality Sandwich Doctorate Full Doctorate Post-Doctorate Sandwich Graduation Foreign Specialists Trainee (company) Youth Scientists with Great Talent (in Brazil) Special Visitant Researcher (in Brazil) TOTAL N of Scholarships 24,600 9,790 11,560 27,100 700 800 390 75,000

In some universities, the quotas are up to 50% of the positions, such as in Universidade Federal do Vale do So Francisco (Univasf), in Pernambuco, and Universidade Federal do Pampa (Unipampa), in Rio Grande do Sul.

In addition to 75,000 scholarships offered by the Federal Government, more 26,000 scholarships will be offered with private sectors fund.
The most searched after countries by Science without Boarders in 2012
2,658 2,143 4,954 12,242 9,474 9,922

Portugal Spain USA UK Italy Canada