Helga Nowotny

Peter Scott

Michael Gibbons

Simon Schwartzman

Camille Limoges

Martin Trow

The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies

The New Production of Knowledge

Colin Brock

Education in Brazil has changed intensely over the last several years. Access to basic education is nearly universal, secondary education has been expanding very rapidly, and so too has higher education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. However, serious issues remain related to quality, equity and inappropriate use of resources. Some of these problems are related to the fact that Brazil started to develop its education institutions very late, and did not build strong teaching and academic professions that could provide the necessary support for education policies committed to equity, quality and efficiency. This book, written by leading experts, is the first English-language text to provide a comprehensive analysis of the challenges facing Brazilian education at all levels, including issues such as the quality of basic education, the establishment of standards for higher education, the experiences of technical and vocational schools, teacher education, regulation and financing of public and private higher education, and the growing role of graduate education and research.

The Challenges of Education in Brazil

An Overview

The University of São Paulo

Rómulo Pinheiro

Pundy Pillay

In spite of the increasing attention attributed to the rise in prominence of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, few studies have looked at the ways in which broader social expectations with respect to the role of higher education across the BRICS have changed, or not, in recent years. Our point of departure is that, contrary to the conventional wisdom focusing on functionalistic perspectives, higher education systems are not just designed by governments to fulfill certain functions, but have a tendency for evolving in a rather unpredictable fashion as a result of the complex interplay between a number of internal and external factors. In reality, national higher education systems develop and change according to a complex process that encompasses the expectations of governmental agencies, markets, the aspirations of the population for the benefits of education, the specific institutional traditions and cultures of higher education institutions, and, increasingly so, the interests and strategies of the private firms entering and offering services in the higher education market. This basically means that it is of outmost importance to move away from conceiving of "universities" or "higher education" as single, monolithic actors or sector. One way of doing this is by investigating a selected number of distinct, but nonetheless interrelated factors or drivers, which, taken together, help determine the nature and scope of the social compact between higher education (its core actors and institutions) and society at large (government, industry, local communities, professional associations).

Investigating the Pact between Higher Education and Society

Higher Education in the BRICS Countries

The Development of the Scientific Community in Brazil

Space for Science

Simon Schwartzman

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