Higher Education Policy in Developing Countries: India and Brazil

Education of society is arguably the most effective tool in transforming a country’s economy. An educated work force with the necessary resources is vital in developing and maintaining living standards in a nation. This is especially true in emerging economies. At the heart of educating a society for economic development is higher level education. Higher level education in this case means education beyond high school, which often includes technical schools, undergraduate and graduate studies. In this paper, we will look at the higher level education characteristics, challenges and policy in two emerging economies, India and Brazil. By some standards, these countries are doing better than most developing countries, and the goal of the analysis is to learn from these countries’ experiences as well as suggest some policy improvements. Focus is given to India because of the availability of more information, as well as the fact that English is the working language of the government making reports and information more accessible. We will start by providing some background information about the countries, and then delve in to various issues in the higher level education sector. Along the way, we will make some policy improvement suggestions, and comparisons to the more developed countries in the world. We will conclude by summarizing these patterns and identifying some action points that these countries, as well as other emerging economies, could take to improve the state of higher level education.