ABSTRACT
The Brazilian higher education system is in a state of turmoil. From out—side of the system, the increasing numbers of candidates who apply for places, the modernization of the economy at large, the urge for more research, and the need of society for more graduates, are pressing the system to expand. From inside, the opposing forces of conservatism, the inertia resulting from vested interests, enlarge the resistances to change. In this chapter I shall attempt an analysis both of the forces of inertia and of the sources of modernization.
