Professors Without Borders Think Tank

  • In a book review for ThinkTank Without Borders, Samara Zauhy examines how Raimundo Nonato da Silva in Democratização do Ensino Superior no Brasil evaluates the impacts of scholarships in granting access and permanence to those who enter higher education, as well as what are some of those scholarship holders’ strategies to successfully concluding their studies.
  • Nonato identifies four main factors to account for the lack of permanence of scholarship students in higher education: lack of content domain, socioeconomic difficulties, poor professor-student relationship as well as problems at home. The author collected his data using a biographical approach, in which he interviewed three Teaching students about their experiences as scholarship holders.
  • Zauhy concludes that Democratização do Ensino, although successfully correlating theory with real-life examples, could have expanded more on the importance that a weak secondary school foundation has in accounting for the failures in democratising higher education in Brazil.

Download the book review: Democratização do Ensino Superior no Brasil by Raimundo Nonato da Silva

Download and view the press release: Professors Without Borders Publishes Book Review Examining Higher Education in Brazil

PROFESSORS WITHOUT BORDERS PRESS RELEASE 28 JUNE 2019 | London

In her review of Democratização do Ensino Superior no Brasil by Raimundo Nonato da Silva Filho, Samara Zauhy seeks to answer whether higher education in Brazil has been truly democratised. Democratização do Ensino explores the underlying causes behind the high percentage of scholarship students who drop out of university in Brazil. In order to develop the central thesis regarding the democratisation of higher education, the author collects personal data from three Teaching students enrolled in higher education in Brazil. With this biographical method of research, Nonato found that even with scholarships, students still face significant difficulties completing their degrees, which range from being economic to cultural components.

Zauhy agrees with the qualitative-based conclusion of Nonato’s research, however, she stresses that the book fails to arrive at a practical solution to remediate the unsuccessful democratisation of Brazil’s higher education. In her view, a more solutions-based conclusion could have had more effect in changing the higher educational system currently in place.

To learn more about ThinkTank Without Borders and our mission, please visit www.thinktank.prowibo.com

Samara Zauhy is a student at Regent’s University London with a major in International Relations and minors in Journalism and English. She is originally from São Paulo but moved to London in 2017. Samara is interested in education, travelling and mental health issues and would like to work as a foreign correspondent and author when she finishes her studies.

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