Nevertheless, they created several higher and secondary learning schools which provided a level of education comparable or even above that of the institutions denominated "universities" established in some of the neighboring Spanish American colonies as early as the 17th century.
Examples were the most important Jesuit colleges in Portuguese colonial Brazil, particularly those located in the cities of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, which - despite not being designated "universities" - offered liberal arts courses in Latin, Greek, philosophy and theology (likewise the Spanish American universities).
In 1792, the Royal Academy of Artillery, Fortification and Drawing was founded in Rio de Janeiro, thereby becoming the first higher learning school of engineering in the Americas.
Shortly after independence from Portugal in 1822, under the reign of Emperor Peter I of Brazil, faculties of law were founded in São Paulo (1827) and Olinda (1827).
An important development that affected Brazil's Higher Education landscape transpired after the collapse of the twenty one year Brazilian military government (1964 – 1985) and the re-democratization of the country.
[2] Furthermore, the new Constitution of Brazil, allowed public funds to be allocated to private, community, religious, or philanthropic schools for their support on meeting the rights to education.
[5] This new policy paved the way for private enterprises to begin offering Higher Education degrees on a mass scale.
Private higher education institutions primarily fall within the latter two categories and charge wide-ranging fees, based on the degree programs offered.
In private higher education institutions, however, the course fees and degree programs vary in price significantly.
In order to enter a university in Brazil, candidates must undergo a public open examination called Vestibular, which usually lasts between 1 and 5 days and takes place once a year.
Since public universities are free of charge and there are a limited number of open slots, there is high competition with the Vestibular.
Most universities in Brazil also admit students according to their high school performance as assessed in the ENEM (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio).
In contrast to other countries, there is no equivalent in Brazil of centralized university departments that are in charge of scheduling and grading exams.
Although public universities offer the best quality education and conduct research, there are continuous complaints from these institutions about being underfunded.
The 1996 law "Foundations and Guidelines for National Education" (lei 9.394) opened the doors for many private universities to begin offering degrees on a mass scale.
Some examples include: Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA), a college sponsored by the Brazilian military, with graduates who are often employed within the Brazilian Aerospace Industry; the Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME) (the Army's equivalent); both of those institutes belonging to the Engineering/STEM fields, or yet a Management/Economics institute: Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), a foundation/think tank that offers Management and Economics courses.
In 2010, Você SA magazine ranked the OneMBA program offered by FGV as the 1st Executive MBA in Brazil (for the third year in a row).
The type of system used in Brazil is the revenue-generating scheme, which base their funding on a fixed-rate levy per working hour or per employee.
For example, in Brazil a major body providing commercial training (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial, SENAC) receives 80% of its revenue through levy-based funds.