Abstract
This text analyzes access to higher education (HE) in three countries: Brazil, Portugal, and Mexico, highlighting some of the basic indicators that show the tensions between, and challenges to, democratization and quality. These three countries were chosen for a number of reasons, namely, that they have elitist higher education systems that are in the process of democratization and universalization, that they have public and private higher education, and that public investment in this level of education is very poor. Democratization and universalization of access to quality higher education is actually a common challenge facing all three countries under analysis, especially when considering questions of social origin and conditions of selection and entry. It is pertinent to identify and analyze ideas that governments, politicians, and institutions of higher education have provided to ensure greater inclusion and an improvement in the quality of life of young workers. In order to better understanding how these three countries, with different backgrounds, try to solve these common problems, three basic aspects are examined for each of them: (1) the model(s) of selection or the form of access, types of institutions, number of places available, enrollment and the attendance rates, especially for the population aged 18–24 years; (2) the social origin and race of students in the last few decades, considering the characterization of the higher education system in terms of it being an elitist, mass, or universal service system; (3) the challenges of broadening the social strata of recruitment with a view to greater social inclusion.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Accardo, A. (1983). Initiation à la Sociologie de l’Illusionisme Social. Le Mascaret: Bordeaux.
Almeida, J. F., Costa, A. F., & Machado, F. L. (1988). Famílias, Estudantes e Universidade. Sociologia: Problemas e Práticas, 4, 11–44.
Antunes, F. (2017, jan/maio). Uma trajetória singular? Apontamentos sobre europeização, privatização e especificidades do ensino superior português. Revista Electrónica de Educação, 11(1), 165–184.
Bowles, S. (1963). Planning Educational Systems for Economic Growth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brazil. Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep). (2018a). Report of the Second Cycle of Monitoring the Goals of the National Education Plan—2018. Brasília, DF: Inep.
Brazil. Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep). (2018b). Synopsis Statistic of the Census of Higher Education (1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 e 2016). Brasília, DF: Inep. Available at http://portal.inep.gov.br/web/guest/sinopses-estatisticas-da-educacao-superior. Accessed on 3 July 2018.
Cabrito, B. (2001). Higher Education and Equity in Portugal. Tertiary Education and Management, 7, 23–39.
Cabrito, B. (2002). O Financiamento do Ensino Superior. Lisboa: EDUCA.
Casillas, M., Chain, R., & Jácome, N. (2007, Abril–junio). Origen social de losestudiantes y trayectoriasestudiantiles em laUniversidad Veracruzana. Revista de laEducación Superior, XXXVI(2)(142), 7–29.
Cerdeira, L., & Cabrito, B. (Orgs.). (2017). Custos dos Estudantes do Ensino Superior Superior Português. Lisboa: EDUCA.
CINDA. (2016). Educación Superior em Iberoamérica. Informe 2016. Santiago de Chile: CINDA—UNIVERSIA.
De Garay, A. (2005). Los ActoresDesconocidos. Una aproximación al conocimiento de losestudiantes. México: ANUIES (5ª. Reimpresión).
Enciso, M. I. (2013, Enero-marzo). El origen social de los graduados y laequidade em elacceso a launiversidad. Revista de laEducación Superior, XLII(I)(165), 11–29.
Guzmán, C. (2011). Avances y retos enelconocimiento sobre losestudiantes mexicanos de educación superior em laprimera década delsiglo XXI. Perfiles educativos, XXXIII(núm., esp.), 91–101.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). (2017). Población de México. México: INEGI.
Instituto Nacional para laEvaluación de laEducación (INEE). (2017). Panorama Educativo de México. Indicadores del Sistema Educativo Nacional 2016. Educación básica y media superior. México: INEE.
Lopes, M. C. (2013). Educação, desenvolvimento e conhecimento: novas roupagens da troca desigual e globalização. O caso da África subsariana. In Grandes Lições (Vol. 2, pp. 111–135). Fundação CalousteGulbenkian. Próximo Futuro, 1ª edição, Lisboa, Tinta da China.
Oliveira, J. F. (2013). Acesso à educação superior no Brasil: entre o elitismo e as perspectivas de democratização. In José Vieira de Sousa (Org.). Educação superior: cenários, impasses e propostas, 1ªed. (pp. 1–27). Campinas: Autores Associados.
Oliveira, J. F. (2017). LDB, PNE (2014–2024) e Construção do Sistema Nacional de Educação: avanços, tensões e perspectivas. In Jorge Najjar & Maria Celli Vasconcelos (Org.). A LDB e as políticas educacionais: perspectivas, possibilidades e desafios 20 anos depois, 1ed. (pp. 30–45). Curitiba: Appris.
Oliveira, J. F., & Dourado, L. F. (2017). A Educação Superior no Plano Nacional de Educação (2014–2024): expansão e qualidade em perspectiva. In Luiz Fernandes Dourado (Org.). Plano Nacional de Educação PNE 2014–2024: avaliação e perspectivas, 1ed. (pp. 105–138). Campinas: Mercado de Letras.
PORDATA, Base de Dados Portugal Contemporâneo. (2016).
Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). (2017). Estadísticas del Sistema Educativo Nacional. México: SEP.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
de Oliveira, J.F., Cabrito, B.G., Santuário, A.A. (2019). Access to Higher Education in Portugal, Brazil, and Mexico: Tensions Between, and Challenges to, Democratization and Quality. In: de Albuquerque Moreira, A., Paul, JJ., Bagnall, N. (eds) Intercultural Studies in Higher Education. Intercultural Studies in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15758-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15758-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15757-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15758-6
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)