To democratize university level education, mainly outside the country’s large urban centers, is one of the objectives of the Ministry of Education, reports the secretary of Superior Education, Nelson Maculan.
According to Maculan, the Expand program (Expandir) is already working with a budget of some US$ 303 million that is to be spent in 68 municipalities between 2005 and 2007.
Around US$ 88 million was spent in 2005. "We are renovating what we already have and moving ahead with making superior education more democratic in the interior of the country," he declared.
The Expandir goal is to create 10 universities and 42 new campuses [these will be tuition-free, federal or state institutions] for an additional 125,000 students.
Maculan said that over the last 11 years funding for federal educational institutions has been insufficient.
"Some areas of federal superior education have been neglected and have fallen into disrepair. We will reverse that," he declared.
ABr