One-Third Of Brazilian Universities Are Irregular

Folha survey shows that 68 out of 196 universities in Brazil don't meet at least one of the legal requirement to be considered such

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Dante Ferrasoli Estêvão Gamba
São Paulo

One in three universities in Brazil doesn’t meet the legal requirements to be considered a "university". 

According to the Brazilian constitution, either private or public universities need to have academic programs, continuing studies offerings, and scientific research -- activities that rely on full-time faculty and solid graduate programs.

The 1996 Education Guidelines Act (Lei de Diretrizes e Bases) determines that a university, to be called such, needs to have one-third of its faculty made up of full-time members. The institution also needs to offer two doctorate degrees and four master's degrees, according to another resolution from 2010.

A Folha exclusive survey, based on data from the 2016 Higher Education Census and the Capes' Sucupira platform from Capes (Capes is a federal agency that deals with higher education scholarships and research funding) from 2018 shows that 68 out of 196 universities in Brazil (34.7%) don't meet at least one requirement to be called such.
 

Students at a private university campus in Rio de Janeiro - Folhapress

Translated by NATASHA MADOV

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