A burning question for developing countries is whether low quality private higher education is better than none at all, in circumstances where public systems cannot meet soaring student demand. Brazil decided it was and set about rapidly expanding its higher education system, including by opening it to private institutions. Today the country has one of the largest private sectors in the world and it enrols a staggering 75% of all post-secondary students.
Hoping to improve access to higher education, Brazil is giving tax incentives to private universities that provide scholarships to needy students, with added incentives for those who are indigenous or Afro-Brazilian. Such people are far less likely to attend Brazilian universities than white students are.
Laureate Education Inc, a for-profit higher education provider that boasts former U.S. President Bill Clinton as honorary chancellor, is planning to launch an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
Presents information on Pitágoras College owned by Apollo International and Pitágoras Group in Brazil. Number of students enrolled in the college; List of disciplines offered by the institution; Teaching methodology used by the college.
Rosemir Soares always wanted to go to university but could never afford the fees. Then she discovered Prouni, a scholarship program of the Brazilian government that has guaranteed a college education for more than one million low-income students since it began, in 2005.
Recently DeVry Inc. (DV - Analyst Report), one of the largest providers of higher-education in North America, acquired Faculdade do Vale do Ipojuca (“FAVIP”). FAVIP, which is based in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil will form a part of DeVry Brasil.
Universities in Brazil have long been for the privileged few. Only 11% of the population of working age has a degree – and such scarcity has brought rich rewards. Graduates earn, on average, 2.5 times more than those without degrees, and five times as much as the majority who never finish secondary school, reports The Economist.
For-profit universities in Brazil are benefiting as rising incomes and greater access to credit boost demand for higher education in Latin America’s largest economy, where fewer than 1 in every 10 Brazilians has a college degree.
There are strong indications that demand for higher education is outstripping supply. In January, Gloria Sekwena died and at least 20 other people were seriously injured when about 5,000 people stampeded in a desperate attempt to register at the last minute with the University of Johannesburg. The university received more than 85,000 applications for fewer than 12,000 places last year.