Pride and prejudice. Myths about Brazilian private higher education.

Let´s be clear and honest: private education appears where public sector is not capable to answer the needs of the society.
Public universities in Brazil (13% of students) are traditionally playing the role of a locomotive in science and research. From their top down, the importance of the professional education provided by the private sector is often less significant, because private Universities in Brazil (87% of students) mainly focus on teaching rather than fundamental research. However, with time many private Universities grew into innovative, good-reputation institutions, capable enough to compete public sector in quality and fight the clichés. However, myths about “good for nothing” private education keep appearing in journals, copying outdated numbers and “surface” arguments.
The objective of this presentation is to fight some of the myths with updated data from different respected sources, like Ministry of Education, ENADE, JP Morgan, INEP, and others, using charts, graphs and big data analyses.
Experiencing the direct impact of the economic crisis, the private education sector is the best and the most active partner of the government in searching ways to provide society with access opportunities to higher education, and to sustain economic growth. With pride and without prejudice.

Keywords: Brazilian private education, myths, ABMES, official data