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Baeta Neves, Clarissa

• Associate Professor
  
• Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
  
• Department of Sociology
  
• Brazil

Clarissa Eckert Baeta Neves is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul/ UFRGS, Brazil, where she is the head of the University Study Group. She was a DAAD Visiting Scholar at the Wissenschaftliches Zentrum für Hochschulforschung, Kassel in 1990 and at the Latin America Center from Münster University, Münster in 2002. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Research and Graduate Studies in Social Sciences/ANPOCS, where she leaded a Working Group on Education and Society from 2000-2004. She is an Associated Senior Researcher from Brazilian National Council for Science and Technology /CNPq. She is also a member of the National Committee of Evaluation at Graduate Studies in Sociology of the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support of Graduate Education/CAPES. She has been working as a consultant in the assessment of research proposals to CNPq and CAPES. She has a large experience in research networks: she took part in an international research group on MERCOSUR Universities (1996-1998); in the study about “Comparative Studies on Higher Education in Brazil and Latin American Countries” (2002), sponsored by IESALC/UNESCO and CAPES/MEC; and in the cross-national studies on Masters and Doctors: education and occupation (1998-2000). Her academic life has been dedicated to the study of higher education, especially in the areas of; graduate studies, community universities, public policies, and access and equity on higher education.

• What is Complex in the Complex World? Niklas Luhmann and the Theory of the Social Systems. (with NEVES, F) Sociologias. Porto Alegre: , v.15, p.182 – 207. 2006
• Diversification of the System of Tertiary Education: a Challenge for Brazil (Diversificação do sistema de educação terciária: um desafio para o Brasil). Revista Tempo Social. São Paulo: , v.15, n.1, p.21 - 44, 2003.
• Sociology, Research and Cooperation (Sociologia, pesquisa e cooperação). (with SOBOTTKA, E) Porto Alegre : Editora da UFRGS, v.1. 246 p. 2002.
• The Structure and the Organization of Higher Education in Brazil (A estrutura e o funcionamento do ensino superior no Brasil) In: A Educação Superior no Brasil.1 ed.Brasília : Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, p. 43-69. 2002.
• Science and Technology in Brazil (Ciência e tecnologia no Brasil) In: A Educação Superior no Brasil.1 ed.Brasília : Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, v.1, p. 205-250. 2002

The Expansion of Higher Education and the Democratization of Access: Equality, Quality and Social Relevance

Higher education is now included among the list of priorities and subjects of strategic importance for the future of nations. There is a general conviction that development requires an increase in the levels of education of the population. The needs of development as well as the new pattern of demand for higher education entails flexibility, agility, and alternative types of education, as requirements of a changing economy. While the need to increase access to higher education is significant, overcoming the rigid and untailored patterns and models of its organization and courses are also a priority. Changes in the nature of educational provisions are a proven need, in order to meet the new challenges related to knowledge, capacity to apply it creatively, leadership, and the ability to adapt to the constant changes in information and communication technologies. These pressures have a diverse type of impact in different countries, due to the history, organization, capacity to react, mobilization of resources, and the appropriate implementation policies of their education systems.

The education system in Brazil is a distinct situation. On one side, it’s experiencing the effects of changes which are occurring in developed nations, and on the other side, it bears the weight of having a higher education system that still has to deal with challenges those countries had surmounted already. Therefore, how can we address the performance of the Brazilian educational system, particularly in higher education, which still has lower net rates of matriculation than countries with lower levels of development, as we see in many South American countries?

I intend to examine access and equity in higher education, focusing on the system in Brazil, by addressing four areas of study. One, to what degree has the expansion of higher education assured the democratization of access to the quality of higher education? Two, what are the proportions of public and private sectors in meeting the demand? Three, how is the democratization of access guaranteed without compromising the quality? And to what degree can the democratization of access be facilitated by a variety of post secondary and higher education opportunities? And finally, how will the process of internationalization of higher education as well as the services of world markets affect national strategies to increase access and quality of a higher education system?