? Kluwer Academic Publishers- Printed in the Netherlands Brazil: Opportunity and crisis in higher education*

Abstract. The current situation in Brazilian higher education is discussed in the context of (i) its historical background; (ii) the 1968 reform and its unintended consequences; (iii) the recommenda-tions of the 1985 Presidential Commission on higher education. The implications of these recom-mendations in terms of the introduction of inter-institution differentiation and greater autonomy are explored with particular reference to the part played in the eventual shelving of the proposals by pressure groups in the Brazilian system. Though pressure groups may block radical changes, con-tinuing debate on the issues raised can form the background to piecemeal and incremental changes in the desirable direction. 1. Opportunity and crisis In many ways, higher education in Brazil looked as if it could escape the tradi-tional pattern of highly bureaucratized, politicized, massive, and low quality universities which dominate most of Latin America and other Latin countries (Levy, 1986). It is a highly differentiated system, with two major public sectors, the Federal and the one of the State of Sio Paulo, and a large private sector. A reform law in 1968 abolished the traditional chair system and allowed the es