Brazil

Brazil's system of higher education is a complex, nationwide network consisting of universities, school federations, and isolated (or single-purpose) institutions distributed within both public and private domains. As of 1987, Brazil had 853 tertiary institutions, eighty-two of which could be classified as universities. More than 70 percent of upper-level institutions are private, but most of the universities are publicly run. Within the public sphere, the dominant force is the federal government, which through its Ministry of Education operates thirty-five major universities (in general, one per state), that account for 21 percent of Brazil's higher education student body, 35 percent of its faculty members, and a major portion of the nation's scientific output. State universities tend to be recent creations, with the notable exception of those in the country's richest state, Sao Paulo. Private-sector universities include thirteen religious and sixteen secular institutions. Private control is particularly evident among institutions not having university status. Three-fourths of the entities so classified are privately operated, in many instances for the purpose of profit making. ¹