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Expanding Access to Higher Education and Its (Limited) Consequences for Social Inclusion: The Brazilian Experience

Author

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  • Elizabeth Balbachevsky

    (Department of Political Science, University of São Paulo, Brazil)

  • Helena Sampaio

    (Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Education, State University of Campinas, Brazil)

  • Cibele Yahn de Andrade

    (Centre for Public Policy Studies, State University of Campinas, Brazil)

Abstract

This article adopts an historical institutionalism perspective (Pierson, 2011; Pierson & Skocpol, 2002; Thelen, 2014). Its main goal is to understand the lasting dynamics and path dependency processes that constrain the impact of expanding access to higher education (HE) in changing the pattern of social inequalities in a given country. To do this, the article will explore two different aspects of the impact of education on social inclusion: the dynamics associated with production and distribution of portable skills and competences, and the dynamics associated with social stratification. The study follows the experience of Brazilian HE over the last 15 years. In this period, the country experienced a rapid expansion, coming from a total undergraduate enrolment of 2.7 million in 2000 up to nine million in 2016. Nevertheless, the design of this expansion assumed a very conservative pattern. Following a well-ingrained domestic pattern, most of this expansion was absorbed by the country’s huge demand-driven private sector, and into less than half a dozen very traditional types of bachelor programs. Thus, the article argues that by failing to diversify, and by preserving old institutional hierarchies, expanding access to HE in Brazil has rendered less impact than one would expect on the country’s social inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Balbachevsky & Helena Sampaio & Cibele Yahn de Andrade, 2019. "Expanding Access to Higher Education and Its (Limited) Consequences for Social Inclusion: The Brazilian Experience," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 7-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v:7:y:2019:i:1:p:7-17
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pierson, Paul, 2000. "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(2), pages 251-267, June.
    2. Thelen,Kathleen, 2014. "Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107679566.
    3. Iversen, Torben & Soskice, David, 2001. "An Asset Theory of Social Policy Preferences," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(4), pages 875-893, December.
    4. Snower, Dennis J., 1994. "The Low-Skill, Bad-Job Trap," CEPR Discussion Papers 999, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Thelen,Kathleen, 2014. "Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107053168.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gaële Goastellec & Jussi Välimaa, 2019. "Access to Higher Education: An Instrument for Fair Societies?," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6.

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