The expansion of the Higher Education System in contemporary societies at the end of the 21st century: models of institutional commodification and differentiation – the brazilian case Amplia o do sistema de Ensino Superior nas sociedades contemporaneas no final do sec. XIX: os modelos de mercatiliza o e diferencia o institucional – o caso brasileiro

This article discusses the overture of the higher education system in Brazil in light of the models of public politics applied in the contemporary society for the expansion of the higher education system in these societies. The central argument of the article states that these models, here called “Commodifi cation and Differentiation”, have signifi cantly enlarged the chances of poorer segments of western societies to gain access to higher education; however, at the same time, they preserve the elitist character of universities with a tradition in research and education. This expansion politics has produced a higher education system with access stratifi ed by social class. In the Brazilian case, even though the institutional standard of differentiation has been distinguished from the European and the American, its consequences in terms of access stratifi cation have been similar to the international standard. Keywords: Institutional differentiation. Managerialism. Inequality. Higher education. Tertiary system. Market. Commodification. Este artigo discute a abertura do sistema de ensino superior no Brasil à luz dos modelos de política pública utilizados na sociedade contemporanea para amplia o do sistema de ensino superior nestas sociedades. O argumento central do artigo é que estes modelos, aqui denominados de “Mercantiliza o e Diferencia o”, ampliaram signifi cativamente as chances de acesso ao ensino superior dos segmentos mais pobres das sociedades ocidentais, mas, ao mesmo tempo, preservaram o caráter elitista das universidades tradicionais de pesquisa e ensino. Esta política de expans o produziu um sistema de ensino superior com acesso estratifi cado por classe social. No caso brasileiro, embora o padr o institucional de diferencia o tenha sido distinto do europeu ou americano, suas conseqüências em termos de estratifi ca o do acesso, tem sido semelhante ao padr o internacional. Palavras-chave: Diferencia o institucional. Gerencialismo. Desigualdade. Ensino superior. Sistema terciário. Mercado. Mercantiliza o.