Education opportunities in Brazil
Published 27 October 2014
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1. Market potential
The Brazilian education and training market is a priority market for UKTI Education owing to:
- Potential for significant future business
- Potential opportunities that may exist across a number of sub-sectors – including technical and vocational education, higher education (HE), public-private partnerships and English language training (ELT)
2. Potential contract opportunities
A variety of education and training opportunities are currently being assessed across a range of states, including in Santa Catarina, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. UKTI Education is also assessing education and training opportunities across the oil and gas sector.
Potential opportunities in Brazil include:
- Raising English language proficiency to support the internationalisation of Brazilian educational institutions and promote more student and researcher mobility
- Opportunities to build on links developed through the Science without Borders programme and Newton Fund activity
- Enhancing technical and vocational education through the development of specialist schools and teacher training
- Delivering programmes funded by international donor organisations to improve teacher and school leadership training, develop school curricula and enhance school infrastructure
View all education opportunities in Brazil
3. Additional market information
3.1 Geographical considerations
Brazil has a population of 200 million and is the largest country in South America and the Latin American region. It is the largest economy in Latin America and the world’s seventh largest economy by GDP. It has a labour force of more than 107 million (ranking 6th worldwide) and has one of the world’s fastest growing major economies. The south east is the most populated region, with more than 80 million inhabitants and the country’s largest metropolitan areas - São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte, with 19.6 million, 11.8 million, and 5.4 million inhabitants respectively.
Brazil is a federated country, with divisions of responsibility between federal, state and municipal levels of government. Federal authorities and legislators set the overall educational policies and objectives and allocate federal funding to some elements. The 27 states have the key responsibility for providing school-level education, and most also fund HE institutions. There are around 5,600 municipal administrative units, responsible for pre-school and primary education, funded by a mix of federal, state and local income.
3.2 Education sector overview
Education is a key priority for the Brazilian Government and is well funded, with 5.8% of GDP spent on education in 2010, rising to a planned 10% by 2020 in line with the National Education Plan, approved in June 2014 by the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. The increase in the national budget will mean expenditure rising from R$138.7 billion (£35.3 billion) at present to R$228.4 billion (£58.1 billion) which will be directed to a range of areas, including:
- An increase in the number of spaces available in childcare facilities, high schools, organisations delivering professional education and public universities
- Widening access and improving teaching quality in day care centres/nurseries
- An increase in the quality of middle school and high school education