Market Intelligence Brief - Brazil 2023

Brazil is one of the world’s largest countries and has the largest population and economy in Latin America. While the birth rate is falling the country still has a relatively youthful population. Thanks to its large size Brazil was the world’s 10th largest sender of internationally mobile tertiary students in 2020. However only a relatively small share of these students come to the UK, especially since the country’s large-scale Science Without Borders scholarship scheme was suspended in 2015.

Brazil’s domestic education policies aim to increase enrolment and reduce drop-out rates, improve teacher training, and increase the resources the country invests in education, as well as making the curriculum more flexible and more relevant to labour market needs. At the higher education level the country’s education system is characterised by fierce competition to enter a relatively small number of elite public universities while the bulk of students enrol in private, often for-profit, institutions.

Barriers for UK institutions looking to recruit Brazilian students or set up transnational education partnerships in the country include requirements that overseas degrees must be validated by a local public university offering the same or similar course before they are officially recognised. Nevertheless, many UK institutions are still active in the country through research partnerships, dual degree programmes, and international student recruitment and exchanges.

This 29-page report gives an overview of the Brazilian education system and the country's wider demographic, economic and political context, with a focus on international education trends in the country - including both student mobility and transnational education. It aims to provide useful information to UK education institutions and other UK stakeholders considering partnerships with Brazilian counterparts and to support further cooperation and engagement between the UK and Brazil.