Coevolution among entities that form the policy arena of Brazilian higher education: Implications for the border between public and private segments

Abstract

In this study, we carried out a political analysis of the coevolution among entities that form the political arena in Brazilian higher education. From a theoretical point of view, we articulate a coevolution perspective and three-dimensional perspective of political analysis that includes the concepts of polity, politics, and policy. In methodological terms, we conducted a longitudinal study that covered the years 1988 to 2018 with data collected through documentary and bibliographic research and analyzed through mixed methods. The results indicate the formation of four central entities groups: governments; international multilateral organizations; public institutions and associations representing the public segment; and private institutions and associations representing the private segment. We observed that in the political process, the interest’s articulation and positions of these four entities influenced the public policies that favored the expansion of the private segment and the shrinking of the public segment. As a consequence, it was possible to verify, on one hand, the abandonment of the conception of education as a public good and a right for all and, with this, the scrapping of public institutions; and, on the other hand, the adoption of the conception of education as a private and marketable good, that is, a commodity and, with this, the increase of private institutions.