Higher Education Policies in Brazil: From a Foreign Policy Strategy to the Dismantling
Brazil moved from the most dynamic period in its educational policies during Lula’s period (2002-2010) and Rousseff’s government (2011-2016) to their dismantling by Michel Temer’s (2016-2018) and Jair M. Bolsonaro’s governments. By employing a comparative analysis, we argue that, during the PT’s governments, there was a convergence between foreign policy and domestic development goals. The overall goal was to combine both economic prosperity and welfare policies. In Temer’s and Bolsonaro’s governments, the education sector has suffered from budget cuts and termination of international programs. Despite a lack of clear purpose in Bolsonaro’s government decision-making, we have seen a noticeable denial-driven setback in education policies.
