Higher Education in the United States and Brazil: How the Two Systems Origins Shaped Their Further Development

Arabela Campos Oliven

Education Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/ce.2014.518184                

Abstract

This article draws a parallel between higher education in the United States and Brazil placing emphasis on its different origins. The college tradition in the United States began with Harvard in the seventeenth century soon after the pioneers settled in the new land. These institutions were private, closer to their Board of Trustees than to the British Crown, and had a deeply religious character. Since one of their objectives was to train religious leaders, character formation was very valued. Located far from city centers, colleges used to operate as almost a total institution. The first Brazilian higher education institutions were created in the early nineteenth century when the Portuguese Royal family left Lisbon for its colony, Brazil. Schools of Medicine, Law, Pharmacy, etc. were called Faculdades. Highly elitist they were located in large cities. They followed the model of Napoleonic Great French Schools, which were secular institutions aimed at training professionals. United States and Brazil have quite different higher education systems, but both still sustain, to a large extent, their respective marks of origin and pay tribute to them.

Keywords

History of Higher Education, Brazil, USA, Colleges, Faculdades

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Adorno, S. (1988). Os Aprendizes do poder: o bacharelismo liberal na política brasileira. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra.
[2]	Bourdieu, P. (1979). La Distinction. Paris: Editions de Minuit.
[3]	Brubacher, J., & Rudy, W. (1976). Higher Education in Transition (3rd ed.). New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
[4]	Cunha, L. A. (1983). A Universidade crítica. Rio de Janeiro: Francisco Alves.
[5]	Diener, T. (1986). Growth of an American Invention: A Documentary of Junior and Community Colleges. Westpoint: Greenwood Press.
[6]	Fávero, M. de L. (1980). Universidade & poder. Rio de Janeiro: Achimé.
[7]	Geiger, R. L. (1986). To Advance Knowledge: The Growth of American Research Universities 1900-1940. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[8]	Graham, R. B. (1990). The Dartmouth Story: A Narrative History of the Colleges Buildings, People and Legends. Hanover: Dartmouth Bookstore Inc.
[9]	Leslie, W. B. (1992). Gentlemen and Scholars: College and Community in the “Age of the University,” 1865-1917. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
[10]	Lucas, C. J. (1994). American Higher Education: A History. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.
[11]	Nadai, E. (1987). Ideologia do progresso e o ensino superior. São Paulo: Loyola.
[12]	Oliven, A. C. A. (1990). Paroquialização do ensino superior: Classe média e sistema educacional no Brasil. Petrópolis: Vozes.
[13]	Rudolph, F. (1990). The American College and University: A History. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
[14]	Schwartzman, S. (1994). Tempos de Capanema. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra.
[15]	Teixeira, A. O. (1989). Ensino superior no Brasil: Análise e interpretação de sua evolução até 1960. Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Getúlio Vargas.