MEC proposes creation of higher education regulatory agency

The Minister of Education (MEC), Camilo Santana, said this Tuesday (31) that he will send a bill (PL) to the National Congress to create a regulatory agency for public and private higher education in Brazil. The announcement was made during the release of the results of the National Student Performance Exam (Enade) 2022, in Brasília.

According to the minister, the measure has the agreement of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “We need to have a robust regulatory agency to monitor and supervise, in a more effective and better way, our higher education courses in the country. Therefore, the president [Lula] you are convinced of this and we will forward it. We are finalizing the proposal [do PL]”, announced the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana.

For the minister, the creation of a regulatory agency enables the existence of a more agile and efficient structure for the evaluation and supervision of higher education courses and educational entities, justified by the growth in enrollments in private education which, according to him, represent 80 % to 85% of total enrollment in higher education courses in the country.

Santana also highlighted the need to reinforce the work of supervising graduations. “The MEC does not have enough legs to carry out this supervision in the way necessary to guarantee the quality of the courses”, he mentioned.

The creation of the agency incorporates the government’s measures to try to solve the problems of Brazilian higher education. Among other measures, the minister also cited better monitoring of supervised internships, creation of a working group on new degree courses, opening of public consultation on changes in distance learning (EaD), better financing conditions through the Student Financing Program ( Fies) for teachers interested in undergraduate courses, among others.

The MEC text must be sent to the National Congress in November, with no expectation of approval this year, due to the short deadline.