June 13, 2013
This week, we’d like to focus on Brazil, the largest country in both South American and the Latin American region. It is the world’s 5th largest country both by geographical area and by population. Brazil’s population according to a 2011 World Bank report is 196.7 million.
Source: www.cia.gov
1. Pre-school education (Educação Infantil) is entirely optional. Nursing school is for children up to 3 years old and kindergarten for children from 4 to 6 years old.
2. Primary and lower secondary education (Ensino Fundamental) or Fundamental Education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6-14.
Source: www.economist.com
3. Upper secondary education (Ensino Medio) is ages 15 to 18. It is also free but not compulsory.
4. Higher education (Ensino Superior) is provided at public or private universities. Higher education is free at public universities.
Source: www.universitiesnews.com
5. The typical school year runs from February/March through November/December. Summer vacation is from mid-December to early February.
6. Admission to a public university requires students to sit an entrance exam known as vestibular for their specific course of study.
Source: guangziedu.net
7. Brazil increased public spending on education from 10.5% of total public expenditure in 2000, to 14.5% in 2005, and to 16.8% in 2009. Source: OECD (2012)
8. There are 50,972.61 students enrolled in basic (fundamental) education of whom 43,053,942 are in the public school system and 7,918,677 are in the private school system. Source: Bunge Fundacao 2012
9. Brazil has 357,418 practicing teachers and 6,739,689 students are enrolled in 30,616 undergraduate education programs. Source: INEP 2011 Higher Education Census
10. 187,760 students are enrolled in graduate studies. Source: Bunge Fundacao 2012
Alan Saidi
Senior Vice President & COO
The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit https://acei-global.org/.
