THE Brazil reached, for the first time, the mark of 10,227,226 of students in higher educationin 2024. The number is 2.5% higher than that recorded in 2023 (9.97 million enrollment). Between 2014 and 2024, enrollment in higher education increased 30.5%.
Of the total enrollment, 5.01 million entered higher education last year.
The data are in the Higher Education Census 2024carried out by the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep).
EAD
The survey shows that the Enrollment in Distance Education (EAD) are more than half (50.7%) of the total number of subscribers in graduationand had an increase of 5.6% between 2023 and 2024. While the number of enrollment in face -to -face courses decreased 0.5% in the same period.
For Inep president Manuel Palacios, the expansion of distance education, through new technologies, allowed a part of the population to have access to higher education, especially citizens working during the day.
“Distance education provided the expansion of the offer and served students who would otherwise have access to higher education.”
Manuel Palacios Although the recent regulation that provides for three higher education formats – face -to -face, semi -presential and distance – In different areas should decentralize higher education in the coming years.
“I believe we will know poles with more resources and more infrastructure to serve the students of higher education, in an intermediate model between the classic university campus and the education totally at a distance,” he predicts.
In 2024, EAD enrollment was present in 3,387 Brazilian municipalities (61%), through campuses of higher education institutions or poles, up 97%, compared to 2014.
Academic degree
In relation to the academic degree, The undergraduate courses in Bachelor (60%) predominate in the country. Technology represent 20.2% of enrollment and undergraduate, 16.9%.
However, from 2014 to 2024, enrollment in technological courses grew 99.5%. In the bachelor’s degree, growth is 20.4% in the same period, while in undergraduate courses increased by 17.2%.
Enrollment
On the national average, one third of the (33%) of high school graduates in 2023 enrolled in higher education, in 2024.
Considering the Federal Education Network, 64% of high school graduates followed directly to higher education, above the national average. In the state network, which concentrates most students, the index was 27%.
Among the students in the private network, the rate reached 60%, level close to that registered by the federal network.
Regarding foreign students, in 2024, 21.6% of those enrolled came from the African continent, especially Angolans.
Venezuelans represent the largest number of foreign students in higher education in Brazil.
Educational institutions
The country has 2,561 higher education institutions, 2,244 private and 317 public. In 2010, there were 2,370 institutions.
In a statement, the Brazilian Association of Higher Education Maintainers (ABMES), an entity that represents private higher education in the country, highlights that about 90% of the country’s institutions are private and total 79.8% of undergraduate enrollment, being responsible for over 8 million students.
Among public higher education institutions, 43.8%are state (139), 38.5%, federal (122) and 17.7%, municipal (56).
Most Brazilian universities are public (56.3%), Inep said.
Almost three fifths of federal institutions are universities and 33.6% are federal institutes of Education, Science and Technology (IFS) and Federal Technological Education Centers (CEFETs).
Courses
In 2024, 45,772 undergraduate courses and four sequential courses were offered.
On average, higher education institutions offer 17.9 undergraduate courses.
- 3.6% offer 100 or more undergraduate courses;
- 28.5% offer up to two undergraduate courses.
Almost 80% of undergraduate courses are in person.
Admission
Last year, more than 5 million students entered undergraduate coursesgrowth of 0.3% compared to 2023.
If considered the type of network, between 2023 and 2024, there was an increase in the number of enterprises in the public network (1.1%) and the private network of 0.2%.
Of the total of the entering, 88.5% started graduation in private institutions.
Courses with more enrollment
Pedagogy was the course with the highest number of enteringtotaling 4.48 million enrollment. Then was the Administration Course (4.40 million enrollment) and Law (3.49 million).
See other courses with large number of students enrolled:
- Accounting (2.07 million);
- Nursing (1.92 million);
- Information Systems (1.76 million);
- People Management (1.73 million);
- Psychology (1.32 million);
- Physical Education (1.26 million).
End of graduation
In 2024, more than 1.3 million students completed undergraduate courses, 80.8% in the private network and 19.2% in the public network.
Between 2023 and 2024, the number of graduates in the public network dropped 0.3%, while in the private network the decrease was 3.6%.
When leaving higher education, the Pedagogy course also had the largest number of graduates, with 1.83 million. Following are right (1.61 million) and administration (1.58 million).
Teachers
In a decade, from 2014 to 2024, the number of teachers in undergraduate public schools grew 14.42%from 159,922 to 182,980.
In the private network, the workforce regressed -19.54 %% in the same period, falling from 187,622 in 2014 to 150,963 last year.
The Higher Education Census points out that, both in the private and public network, the average age of professionals is 43 years. Most are male in public institutions, while in private is the female.
Most doctors operate in the public network, while in the private network predominates teachers with a master’s degree.
Regarding the work regime, most public school teachers work full time. And in the private network, the partial regime prevails.
