How the Fundo de Financiamento ao Estudante and the Programa Universidade Para Todos Have Influenced the Coevolution of the Brazilian Higher Education Sector and a Private Higher Education Institution

Abstract

This study analyzes how the political process involving the Fundo de Financiamento ao Estudante - FIES and the Programa Universidade para Todos – PROUNI influenced the coevolution of the Brazilian higher education sector (the meso-level) and a private Higher Education Institution, Estácio de Sá (the micro-level). Theoretically, we articulate the coevolution perspective using a three-dimensional political analysis which involves the concepts of polity, politics, policy. This is a longitudinal study of the period from 1996 to 2018 (23-year period) which utilizes data collected through documental and bibliographic research. We analyze the data using mixed methods. Through political analysis, we map the social actors in the policy arena, identify the formation of policy networks, and analyze the political process involved in the formulation and implementation of the FIES and the PROUNI in Brazilian higher education. Based on coevolutionary property analysis, we observe that both the FIES and the PROUNI acted as mechanisms driving evolution on the meso- and micro levels, as well as the coevolution between the sector and Estácio de Sá. Our data analysis indicates that these two public funding mechanisms, which resulted from the political actions of social and political actors, simultaneously drove the expansion of higher education, especially in the private segment, and the growth of Estácio de Sá, highlighting the multi-level co-evolutionary dynamics, revealing the mutual and causal influence between the meso- and micro-levels. This study contributes to the field of coevolutionary studies by empirically analyzing coevolutionary properties within the political context of Brazilian higher education.