|
Brazil University Research and Graduate Education
University
Research and Graduate Education
Most of Brazil's research and development activities take place
in its main public universities. There are about 1.5 million higher
education students, around 10 percent of the age cohort, distributed
in federal (21.1 percent), state (12.7 percent), municipal (5.1
percent), and private institutions (61.1 percent). There are about
15,000 active scientists and researchers in Brazil, and about 1,000
graduate programs in most fields of knowledge.
Research in universities usually is associated with graduate education,
although relatively few university professors hold a doctoral degree.
These professors are concentrated in the São
Paulo State system, which is responsible for more than 50 percent
of the doctoral degrees granted, and in some of the best federal
universities.
Most academics in public institutions have full-time contracts,
and their salaries are equivalent to those obtained in private schools.
The assumption is that they should combine teaching with research,
but in practice few have the necessary training for research work.
The universities provide physical space and salaries for research,
but little else; the researcher, or the research group, has to seek
out support money and research grants. In most cases, the researcher
applies for grants from the CNPq and FAPESP or from some private
foundation in Brazil or abroad. Equipment and library holdings in
the universities usually are obtained through special grants and
projects from Finep or from occasional programs run by the government,
in some cases with resources from the World Bank or the Inter-American
Development Bank (see Glossary). Researchers can also enter into
cooperative research projects with public and private corporations,
or with the government itself. Unicamp (Campinas State University),
for instance, had an important cooperative agreement with Telebrás,
Brazil's communications holding; and the Coppe (Coordinating Board
of Postgraduate Programs in Engineering) has worked with Petrobrás
in the development of technologies for deep-sea oil drilling. The
Federal University of Santa Catarina is well known for its Institute
of Mechanical Engineering (Instituto de Engenharia Mecánica--IEM)
and has a large portfolio of research and development contracts
with private institutions. The more entrepreneurial and competent
departments and institutes obtain resources that enable them to
work according to high standards of efficiency. Others, in the same
institution, may not have the means to purchase a computer or even
to renew journal subscriptions.
Data as of April 1997
|
|
