TEXT B
The mortarboard boom
Students and investors are profiting from the growth of private universities
Universities in Brazil have long been for the privileged few. Graduates earn, on average, 2.5 times as much as those without degrees, and five times as much as the majority who never finished secondary school. Until recently those gains went mostly to those who had attended private schools. To cap the unfairness, they went on to public universities where they paid no fees. But explosive growth in private, for-profit universities is at last opening up higher education. None of the for-profit institutions has the prestige or resources of the best public ones. Some are little more than diploma mills of dubious quality. But a qualification from one of them can double a youngster’s starting salary. A large population of young adults, deficient schools and the growth of industries, such as oil, that demand skilled workers all mean that the demand for higher education will continue to rise. Since the public sector will lack the cash to expand provision, this will have to come from private institutions. The government recognizes this. It offers private universities tax breaks in return for giving around a tenth of their places free or at discounts to students on modest incomes. But universities will have to spend on technology and seek economies of scale if they are to improve quality, cut costs, keep the students they have and woo more. The government is seeking a route to social justice: admission quotas. Extending quotas to all 59 federal universities and half of all places, will mean admitting many more ill prepared students, who may struggle [because of a poor grounding in the basics]. The surest way to guarantee all youngsters have a fair chance to get into the best universities is to offer good schools for all.
From The Economist, September 15th, 2012.
Would it be CORRECT to say that TEXT B expresses the idea that private universities in Brazil
