Session Information
23 SES 09 B, The National Faces of Neoliberalism in Education in Rich and Developing Countries
Symposium
Time:
2009-09-30
10:30-12:00
Room:
HG, HS 7
Chair:
Dave Hill
Discussant:
Jill Pinkney Pastrana
Contribution
On April 2007, the Brazilian government signed the Decree 6096, launching the Federal Universities’ Restructuring and Expansion Program (REUNI). This decree establishes two targets to be accomplished: student teacher ratio of 18:1 and 90% rate of student graduation. It also emphasizes the offer of general and short-term courses rather than professional ones, as well as the use of e-learning programs/courses. Based on arbitrary formulas, most universities will need a huge increase in student enrolment, in order to reach the established goals. In particular, those with new or poorly evaluated graduate programs or research activities. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Budget, Planning and Management also signed a joint official document creating the “Bank of Equivalent Professors” in each university, based on professors’ employment contract, aiming at reducing tenured professors, favoring part time ones. The main unrevealed idea is to foster a divide within federal institutions, reducing the majority to be “undergraduate teaching institutions”, and a few graduate and research institutions/programs. Higher education “democratization” will be restricted to short length and non-professional courses, in crowded classes, with low paid professors, e-learning, thus, dissociated from a real university environment, based on research, knowledge creation. Thus, this paper examines the impacts of neoliberal policy on equity, critical thinking, and education workers’ rights and conditions.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
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