Brazil Cuts 5,613 Scholarships from September to Save R$544 Million in Four Years

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) announced on Monday, September 2nd, the cut of 5,613 master’s, doctoral and post-doctoral scholarships in Brazil, starting this month.

It is the third such statement this year. In total, CAPES will discontinue its offer of some 11,000 scholarships and new researchers will not be accepted this year.

The Ministry of Education (MEC) announced yesterday afternoon that in 2020, CAPES will receive only half of its 2019 Budget allocation. In the 2020 budget proposal, the estimated loss for the whole Ministry of Education is nine percent.

The crisis in research funding also affects the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ), linked to the Ministry of Science. CNPQ has also suspended the granting of new scholarships and current scholarship holders are also at risk of not receiving them as of September.

Scholarships and “freeze”

Capes and MEC term the new announcement as a “freeze ” and state that the measure will not affect those who are currently receiving the benefit.

However, despite stating that the grants are frozen, CAPES concedes that they will no longer be offered for the next 4 years, their period of effectiveness were they to be granted this month.

In total, CAPES has 211,784 active grants in all its areas of operation. Of this total, 92,680 are for post-graduate work. Thus, the announced cut will represent the blocking of 2.65 percent.

According to the government, the measure will represent savings of R$37.8 million in 2019. Also according to CAPES, scholarships have a 4-year useful life and the savings in the period may amount to R$544 million.

“The contingency will be maintained until the commencement of new awards,” the body said.

History of cuts

In its first announcement, on May 9th, CAPES reported the suspension of 3,474 scholarships. Later, on June 4th, CAPES advised that it would no longer offer 2.7 thousand scholarships, and this number was applied in courses with a grade 3 concept.

Considering all the announcements made so far, the total number of scholarships that will no longer be offered in 2019 amounts to 11,811.

Also in higher education, MEC has announced the blocking of funding for universities this year. The suspension of transfers and scholarship cuts prompted student protests, and the National Association of Graduate Students (ANPG) said that the “cuts (…) are fatal to higher education, post-graduation, and national science”.

2020 Budget

The MEC has decided to cut CAPES’ budget by half in 2020. A total of R$2.2 billion was earmarked for the institution against the R$4.25 billion expected this year.

According to Anderson Ribeiro Correia, president of CAPES, MEC and the institution are “looking for alternatives to replenish next year’s budget”. The government, however, did not detail what measures are under study.

CAPES had a contingency of R$300 million this year. Considering the impact of the 11,000 scholarships in the 2019 Budget, the organisation will save R$90.8 million in the current year.

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