{"id":534400,"date":"2024-11-07T14:34:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T17:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=534400"},"modified":"2024-11-07T14:34:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T17:34:34","slug":"interest-in-graduate-programs-falls-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/interest-in-graduate-programs-falls-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Interest in graduate programs falls in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a current contingent of just over 320,000 master\u2019s and doctoral students, Brazil\u2019s graduate system is experiencing a complex crisis caused by compounding issues. For more than three decades prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual number of graduate degrees had been climbing steadily, peaking at 24,400 doctoral and 70,100 master\u2019s degrees in 2019. This growth stalled during the pandemic as laboratories closed and research projects were postponed. But even after the pandemic ended, the crisis lingered. The return to pre-pandemic levels has been slow: in 2022, the number of graduates was still 13% lower than in 2019. In many academic fields, fewer candidates are applying for program spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic obscured two trends that had actually already started: interest in graduate research had declined, mainly due to decreasing grant amounts, and graduate training had become less attractive among groups that previously sought it,\u201d explains Rachel Meneguello, associate dean for graduate student affairs at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). The preliminary draft of the new National Graduate Education Plan (PNPG), due to be released in the second half of the year by the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES), highlights these issues. In over 20 evaluated fields, at least a quarter of master\u2019s and doctoral programs have more slots available than applicants. This is despite a 40% increase in federal graduate grant amounts after more than a decade of stagnation, though the effects of this increase remain to be assessed.<\/p>\n

Meneguello attributes the decline to changes in the job market and the expectations of students and professionals, who no longer find a long training period to prepare for a faculty position appealing. The severity of the problem varies across different fields, adding a further layer of complexity. The ratio of enrolled candidates to entrants, a measure of interest in graduate programs, fell from 1.29 in 2011 to 1 in 2022 in doctoral engineering programs at UNICAMP, while this ratio rose from 2.19 to 3.42 in agricultural sciences over the same period. In the humanities and social sciences, it dropped from 3.4 to 2.3, while in linguistics, literature, and arts, it went from 4.26 to 9.33.<\/p>\n

Renato Pedrosa\u2014a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (IEA-USP) and an advisor to FAPESP on science, technology, and innovation metrics\u2014has compiled data that reveal an uneven recovery. Fields heavily impacted by lab closures during the pandemic, such as life sciences, are taking longer to rebound. Some states are also struggling more than others to recover. In S\u00e3o Paulo, 6,300 doctoral degrees were awarded in 2022, an improvement from about 5,900 in 2020 and 2021, but still below the 7,300 figure in 2019. Minas Gerais returned to pre-pandemic levels at 2,500 graduates in 2022, while Paran\u00e1 and Goi\u00e1s surpassed pre-pandemic figures at respectively 1,700 and 466 degrees. \u201cS\u00e3o Paulo was already experiencing a slight decline before the pandemic, with 7,289 doctorates awarded in 2019 compared to 7,459 the previous year,\u201d notes Pedrosa.<\/p>\n

The decentralization of graduate programs over recent decades may help explain the decline in the number of degrees in states like S\u00e3o Paulo, suggests FAPESP\u2019s scientific director, geneticist Marcio de Castro Silva Filho. \u201cCandidates from other states who used to come to S\u00e3o Paulo universities might now be choosing programs closer to home, where the cost of living is more affordable with their limited grants,\u201d he says. The drop in candidates seems more pronounced in programs with higher CAPES scores of 6 and 7, which are more common in states with well-established graduate education systems, compared to programs with intermediate ratings of 3 to 5.<\/p>\n

Connie McManus, a former CAPES director and now international relations manager at FAPESP, notes that graduate education has also become less attractive because it is perceived as taking too long to complete. \u201cFrom the start of a bachelor\u2019s degree to the end of a doctorate takes about 15 years. In the humanities, doctorates are earned at over 40 years old; in professional programs, as late as around 46 years. That\u2019s a long time before starting to pay into social security and beginning a career. No wonder there\u2019s less interest in graduate studies in fields like engineering, where industry offers attractive alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest volume in the Mestres e doutores<\/em> (Masters and doctors) series, produced by the Center for Management and Strategic Studies (CGEE) and released this month, shows that the average age on completing a master\u2019s degree was 33.8 years in 2021, slightly higher than 33.4 years in 1996. For doctorates, age at completion dropped from 39.4 years in 1996 to 37.4 years in 2021. \u201cIn OECD countries, doctorate recipients complete their degrees 2.1 years earlier than their Brazilian counterparts and, in Germany, 5.3 years earlier,\u201d says Sofia Daher, a technical advisor at CGEE who is leading the research series. The CGEE study noted an increase in the ratio of doctorates to population in Brazil: from 7.9 per 100,000 people in 2013 to 10.2 in 2021. For comparison, there are 21.9 PhDs per 100,000 people in the US, and 37.4 in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more doctorates if we want to approach countries with a higher Human Development Index. We aren\u2019t producing enough of them,\u201d says CAPES President Denise Pires de Carvalho, who identifies structural reasons for the graduate crisis. A core issue, she argues, is the profile of undergraduate students. \u201cBrazil has increased the proportion of people over 24 with a bachelor\u2019s degree from 15% to 23% in recent years, but this growth has been mostly in private universities and primarily in distance-learning programs. Many of these graduates are job-oriented and have no interest in graduate studies,\u201d she says. Conversely, Carvalho adds, the growth of enrollments in public universities has slowed in recent years due to reduced investments since 2016. \u201cThere will tend to be fewer graduate candidates if the number of undergraduates in public universities hasn\u2019t increased. The system will stall without investment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\"B\u00e1rbara Quintino<\/span><\/p>\n

The job market for master\u2019s and doctoral graduates is unique, the CGEE study shows. It tends to be more resilient during economic downturns. For instance, in years when Brazil\u2019s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has declined, such as 2015, 2016, and 2020, job growth rates for professionals with postgraduate degrees has remained positive, bucking the overall market trend. \u201cThis resilience is partly due to many of these professionals being employed in the public sector, but also because they represent a specialized and sophisticated workforce that is hard to replace,\u201d explains Daher of CGEE. \u201cMost PhDs are employed in public universities, while the job market for master\u2019s graduates is becoming increasingly diverse, with a significant presence in industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daher underscores the need for public policies to increase job opportunities for recent graduates\u2014the report found that the proportion of PhDs with formal employment two years after graduation has been declining: it was 75.8% in 2010, but the latest data from 2021 shows it is now at 65%. Funding agencies have expressed concern about the limited number of postdoctoral grants awarded. \u201cWe have over 20,000 PhDs graduating each year in Brazil, but only about 2,000 postdoctoral grants on offer. We need to accommodate this highly qualified workforce,\u201d says Marcio de Castro from FAPESP.<\/p>\n

The new National Postgraduate Plan is expected to introduce changes to the system, such as linking graduate studies with industry and aligning graduate training with current labor-market demand, while also addressing research and teaching needs. \u201cBrazil\u2019s continued development will require more companies to invest in research and development, leveraging our contingent of PhDs,\u201d says Denise Carvalho from CAPES.<\/p>\n

Other proposals are also under discussion. The National Education Council (CNE) has been working for two years on new guidelines to reorganize Brazil\u2019s graduate education system. In broad terms, the goal is to create professional pathways beyond academia, dismantle the hierarchy that puts a master\u2019s degree as a prerequisite for a PhD, and make program formats more flexible, such as allowing patents or contributions to public policies to substitute for conventional theses. \u201cIt is important that our approach to expanding postgraduate education address Brazil\u2019s needs in development-critical and innovation-intensive fields,\u201d says CNE President Luiz Roberto Liza Curi. \u201cCAPES has done an outstanding job. The goal of the policy proposal is not to shift course entirely but to amplify the positive impacts from the system on society and the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three state universities in S\u00e3o Paulo will hold a symposium in August to discuss collaborative solutions. Among the proposed changes at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) is updating curricula to equip doctoral students with new skills for diverse employment opportunities. This includes careers in industry, the third sector, public service, or entrepreneurship. \u201cDoctoral expertise can be highly valuable in sophisticated job markets, including services, hospitals, laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry, and agribusiness,\u201d says Rodrigo Calado, associate dean for graduate student affairs at USP.<\/p>\n

University officials also plan to implement changes so that students inclined toward a scientific career can obtain their doctorates sooner. One proposal is to precede graduate studies with a one-year cycle in which students complete most of their theoretical coursework and prepare their research project. After this period, the project is evaluated and can then lead to a doctorate program. \u201cThis would be a way to identify young talents with the greatest potential early in their scientific training,\u201d Calado explains. Denise Carvalho from CAPES notes that these changes could be implemented in short order: the agency plans to expand opportunities to convert master\u2019s grants directly into doctoral grants. \u201cThis option is currently available for up to 20% of grants, but programs have used it very little. Less than 5% of grant holders take this fast-track path,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP) is developing a range of initiatives to attract and retain graduate students: the institution, with campuses in 24 cities, once had over 14,000 students in its programs and now has 13,056. \u201cThis is significant because we have observed a decline in student interest in fields where we are among the leading institutions, such as agricultural and health sciences,\u201d says Maria Valnice Boldrin, associate dean for graduate student affairs at UNESP. One measure being implemented is to offer a R$1,200 monthly grant to underprivileged students who have not yet received grants from funding agencies. The intention is to provide grant funding to 500 students this year. Another planned initiative is to unify the 140 selection processes for graduate programs across the state under the same foundation that administers the university admission exam, VUNESP, to facilitate admissions.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what changes are ultimately introduced, there is a consensus that programs need greater autonomy to address student disinterest. \u201cThe rules applied to the graduate system are the same in the Amazon and the Pampas, even though regional needs vary widely,\u201d notes Connie McManus. For Rachel Meneguello from UNICAMP, a flexible approach is needed to address disparate issues. \u201cIn some programs, it might be beneficial to reduce the number of mandatory courses and focus on faster, more targeted training. In others, a stronger theoretical foundation might be necessary. Each field will require a tailored approach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Universities and the government evaluate changes to master’s degrees and doctorates","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":534405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[226],"coauthors":[98],"class_list":["post-534400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policies-st-en","tag-education","position_at_home-sumario"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534409,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534400\/revisions\/534409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534400"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=534400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}