Career Colleges and Vocational Schools in Brazil
Brazilian Experience
Curitiba, Brazil
Brazilian Experience is a specialized educational and tourism organization, desigining various exchange programs in Brazil. The organization was established by professionals, who have gained enough international experience, but are also very passionate about the Brazilian culture and the country itself. The exchange options offered by BE include volunteering opportunities, high school options, internship, sports, and teaching opportunities. In the teaching category, individuals have the chance of teaching their native language to a Brazilian family.\
Career Colleges and Vocational Schools in Brazil by City:
CampinasCuritibaAbout Career Colleges and Vocational Schools in Brazil
Because of the rapid growth of its economy and the proliferation of corporations of all sizes and in all industries, Brazil’s need for career colleges and vocational schools has never been greater. Industries such as energy, technology, and communications have grown by leaps and bounds in Brazilian cities, and the cumbersome education system has had difficulty keeping up. Tight regulation and a high level of centralization have made it difficult for vocational training programs to get on their feet, and thousands of jobs go unfilled as a result. However, this trend is reversing, and the Brazilian government is waking up to the need for change.
The numbers from the past ten years show immense growth in the area of technical and vocational training in Brazil. Since 2003, the number of career colleges and vocational schools in the country has tripled, and the number of students enrolled in these schools has grown from 100,000 to almost half a million. This is an impressive rate of growth, and it provides valuable fuel for Brazil’s emergence as a major player in the global economy.
Today, there are essentially two kinds of vocational training on offer in Brazil: government operated technical institutes; and online work-training programs offered by corporations. The government schools are in many ways more prestigious, and certainly more common: as of last year, there are over 400 government-funded technical schools and career colleges all over Brazil. Given the rigidity of Brazilian educational policy, it is somewhat surprising how diverse and adaptive these government-sponsored programs are. They offer a huge range of courses, from plumbing to IT and even teacher training, and they are designed to cater to the needs of local communities wherever they are located – schools in rural areas focus on agriculture, while those in the cities focus more on high-tech job skills.
Many private corporations in Brazil have taken matters into their own hands, opening training institutions for their employees to ensure that there is a steady workforce with the needed skills. Although these institutions are typically seen as less prestigious than the government schools, they are still popular with practical and job-oriented students.
The biggest challenge for career colleges and vocational schools in Brazil is to ensure that their programs are properly staffed and equipped. There is no shortage of demand for such programs, but money is sometimes scarce and qualified instructors can be hard to find. Also, many of the best and brightest students avoid technical schools because of the fact that credits from these institutions cannot be transferred to four-year colleges. Unlike in Argentina or Chile, where students often study at a technical institute for 1 or 2 years and then transfer to a degree-granting institution, students in Brazil cannot make this switch. The end result is that students who have the qualifications to attend four-year colleges almost always do so, which diminishes the quality of technical institutes. The best hope for fixing this problem is that bureaucratic educational policy will change, but no one can say how long that will take.
The numbers from the past ten years show immense growth in the area of technical and vocational training in Brazil. Since 2003, the number of career colleges and vocational schools in the country has tripled, and the number of students enrolled in these schools has grown from 100,000 to almost half a million. This is an impressive rate of growth, and it provides valuable fuel for Brazil’s emergence as a major player in the global economy.
Today, there are essentially two kinds of vocational training on offer in Brazil: government operated technical institutes; and online work-training programs offered by corporations. The government schools are in many ways more prestigious, and certainly more common: as of last year, there are over 400 government-funded technical schools and career colleges all over Brazil. Given the rigidity of Brazilian educational policy, it is somewhat surprising how diverse and adaptive these government-sponsored programs are. They offer a huge range of courses, from plumbing to IT and even teacher training, and they are designed to cater to the needs of local communities wherever they are located – schools in rural areas focus on agriculture, while those in the cities focus more on high-tech job skills.
Many private corporations in Brazil have taken matters into their own hands, opening training institutions for their employees to ensure that there is a steady workforce with the needed skills. Although these institutions are typically seen as less prestigious than the government schools, they are still popular with practical and job-oriented students.
The biggest challenge for career colleges and vocational schools in Brazil is to ensure that their programs are properly staffed and equipped. There is no shortage of demand for such programs, but money is sometimes scarce and qualified instructors can be hard to find. Also, many of the best and brightest students avoid technical schools because of the fact that credits from these institutions cannot be transferred to four-year colleges. Unlike in Argentina or Chile, where students often study at a technical institute for 1 or 2 years and then transfer to a degree-granting institution, students in Brazil cannot make this switch. The end result is that students who have the qualifications to attend four-year colleges almost always do so, which diminishes the quality of technical institutes. The best hope for fixing this problem is that bureaucratic educational policy will change, but no one can say how long that will take.