EDUCATION

Admission to Education in Brazil

According to Article 6 of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, combined with Article 2 of the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (Law 9.394, 1996), public education is a right guaranteed to all. Inspired by the principles of freedom and ideals of human solidarity, its purpose is the full development of the student, their preparation for citizenship, and their qualification for work. Consequently, it is unconstitutional to exclude immigrants and refugees from these contexts.

In view of the fact that Brazilian legislation provides for compulsory school attendance for immigrants, as well as for Brazilians, the National Council of Education has prepared Opinion CNE/CEB No. 1/2020, which establishes the "right to enrollment of immigrant children and adolescents, refugees, stateless individuals, and asylum seekers in the Brazilian public education system." Through this Opinion, the National Council of Education stipulates that enrollment in the public education system must be guaranteed immediately "without the requirement of documentation proving previous schooling" (Article 1, heading), and it cannot be denied or postponed [...] " (Article 1, §3, item II). Regarding the specific case of children, the Opinion states that "enrollment in early childhood education and the first year of elementary education shall be based solely on the child's age" (Article 2) and "for enrollment from the second year of elementary education and in high school, education systems must apply assessment procedures to verify the student's level of development and their placement in the appropriate grade and year" (Article 3).

As for higher education, currently, the most common form of admission is through entrance exams (vestibulares) at universities and colleges or through the National High School Exam (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio - ENEM) for registered institutions. Since language difficulty is one of the major barriers faced by foreigners, this form of admission results in many of them not being approved, especially due to low scores in essay writing, for example. In this regard, some universities organize alternative ways to access and include vulnerable immigrants or refugees in undergraduate programs. Specific cases are the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS and the State University of Maringá - UEM, which have established differentiated procedures for the admission of refugees and vulnerable immigrants to undergraduate programs in higher education.

However, there is no specific legislation on the subject that standardizes the treatment of immigrants in order to promote equal treatment for those involved, that is, treating equally those who are equal and unequally those who are unequal, to the exact extent of their inequalities.

Diploma Validation

Currently, a foreign undergraduate diploma needs to go through a validation process to be nationally recognized in Brazil. This validation is carried out by public Brazilian universities that are duly accredited and maintained by the government and must offer a recognized course at the same level and field or its equivalent. The validation is requested through an application sent to a public higher education institution in Brazil. Only public universities have the authority to validate foreign diplomas, as established by the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (Law No. 9.394, dated 12/20/1996). The validation must comply with international agreements of reciprocity or equivalence.

The validation process can follow two modalities: regular or simplified, as determined by Normative Decree MEC No. 22, dated December 13, 2016. The documentation required for validation varies according to the modality chosen by the higher education institution. In addition to the required documents, the student needs to pay a fee to cover administrative expenses. The fee amount is not established by the National Council of Education or the Ministry of Education and may vary among institutions.

The deadline for the university to respond to the validation request is up to 180 days for regular processing and up to 60 days for simplified processing, counting from the date of submission of the necessary documentation. It is important to note that Brazil does not have agreements for automatic validation or recognition of higher education diplomas with other countries. Therefore, the same rules apply to all countries.

The Ministry of Education has created the Carolina Bori Platform, a specific portal on the topic that provides detailed information. To obtain more information and initiate the digital validation process at universities that have joined the platform, you can access it here. For questions related to the homologation, legalization, and apostille of documents, click here.