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The Vestibular (from pt, vestíbulo, "entrance hall") is a competitive examination and is the primary and widespread entrance system used by
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian
universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
to select the students admitted. The Vestibular usually takes place from November to January, right before the start of school year in February or March, although certain universities hold it every semester. The exams often span several days, usually two, with different disciplines being tested each day.


Structure

Several Brazilian universities follow the
FUVEST FUVEST (from Portuguese ''Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular'', "University Foundation for Vestibular") is a Brazilian autonomous institution connected to the University of São Paulo responsible for its "vestibular" examinations. For th ...
(
University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the bes ...
's entry exam) pattern, which is divided into two stages or "phases". The first stage consists of 90 multiple choice questions, including subjects such as
Portuguese Language Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, ...
,
Portuguese Literature Portuguese literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the Portuguese language, particularly by citizens of Portugal; it may also refer to literature written by people living in Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Mozambique, and other ...
and
Brazilian Literature Brazilian literature is the literature written in the Portuguese language by Brazilians or in Brazil, including works written prior to the country's independence in 1822. Throughout its early years, literature from Brazil followed the literary t ...
;
Math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
,
Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
,
Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
,
Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...
,
Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...
and
Foreign Language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...
. The answers are marked on an answer card, and they are graded afterwards by an automated
optical reader An optical reader is a device found within most computer scanners that captures visual information and translates the image into digital information the computer is capable of understanding and displaying. An example of optical readers are mar ...
. Some institutions establish a cutoff score for the first stage. Students who score below that are automatically eliminated and do not proceed to the second stage, even if the maximum number of candidates has not been reached, although some schools make exceptions in the rare case of most candidates scoring below the cutoff. In some universities, the Vestibular may include only a single-stage exam where the scores for each subject tested are adjusted by weights depending on the student's course choice. For example, on the Brazilians unities of PUC (known as one of the most prestigious private universities in Brazil) has a Vestibular consisting of 45 multiple choice questions, one written question about Chemistry and Biology, one about Maths and Physics, and another about History and Geography, in addition to a student-written essay on a provided theme. All of that is done in one single day. Another example is Mackenzie, considered one of the best private universities in the country: its Vestibular consists of 60 multiple choice questions and a student-written essay. In some military engineering colleges such as
ITA Ita or ITA may refer to : Places and jurisdictions * ITA, ISO 3166-1 country code for Italy * Ita (Africa), an ancient city and former bishopric in Roman Mauretania, presently a Latin Catholic titular see * Itá, Paraguay People * Ita (pr ...
and
IME Ime is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the east side of the river Mandalselva, along the European route E39 highway. Ime is an eastern suburb of the town of Mandal. Ime might be considered to ...
, the Vestibular includes exams in Math, Physics, Chemistry, Portuguese and English only. Those exams are mostly write-in and demand more from the students when compared to ordinary Vestibular exams of the same subjects by other universities, being heavily influenced by
mathematics competitions Mathematics competitions or mathematical olympiads are competitive events where participants complete a math test. These tests may require multiple choice or numeric answers, or a detailed written solution or proof. International mathematics comp ...
questions. In the other hand, colleges with a humanities focused curriculum, such as ESPM, only include Portuguese, English, History, Geography, Math and culture. This is done in order to let the student focus on the subjects of the college's interest while preparing for the exams. University candidates must choose their majors by the time they sign in for the Vestibular, and they cannot change their choice except through a very bureaucratic process of internal transfers within the university. Some exceptions exist, such as
Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
in some universities, where the engineering major is chosen only after a three or four semester period. In the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, for example, students choose their majors by the time they sign in for the Vestibular, but they can change their major (only between the courses offered in the Polytechnic School) whenever they want, after two semesters taken, and as long as there are places available, by the internal transfer system, which instead of the usual, is very organised and accessible. Throughout the last decades, there has always been a gap between the few vacancies offered and the overwhelmingly high and growing demand for high quality and tuition-free
public universities A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university ...
. The competition goes as far as having more than 150 candidates per vacancy for the most sought-after careers, such as
medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
.


Origin

The Vestibular was implanted primarily as a way to prevent
nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
or some other form of unfair or beneficial selection of candidates. It was considered by law the only authorized selection method until 1996, when the new Education Law was passed.


Criticism

While the Vestibular is generally considered to be a fair and unbiased system to select students due to the standardized nature of the tests, there are a few controversies surrounding it. There is some criticism to the alleged standardization of the high school curriculum for the whole country to match the Vestibular agenda. As with most types of academic evaluation, the Vestibular suffers from the same limitations as a regular
test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
, that is, factors such as
stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
come into play. It also seems to favor candidates that come from a wealthier background, who had access to better and deeper education in private schools, as opposed to the comparatively poor public high school educational system, although many university boards claim that it doesn't matter which background the candidates have, since their Vestibular aims to select the best students based solely on their knowledge. To ease this problem, some universities such as the
Federal University of Minas Gerais The Federal University of Minas Gerais ( pt, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, UFMG) is a federalIn the Brazilian Higher Education context, ''Federal'' does not mean ''collegiate'' (even though most Federal Universities in Brazil enjoy a sim ...
, provide a 10–15% bonus for students who received their middle and high education in public schools. There is also the alternative of taking classes at
cram school A cram school, informally called crammer and colloquially also referred to as test-prep or exam factory, is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high sch ...
s called ''cursinhos'' (a Brazilian word that usually means "Vestibular course"). Those are revisions of Vestibular subjects, given through periods of 9 months (the regular year-long one), 6 months (the semi-intensive one), and 3 months (known as intensive). These courses are given usually for the most prestigious schools and can be done after concluding high school or as a complement of the last year of it.


Racial quotas

Racial quota Racial quotas in employment and education are numerical requirements for hiring, promoting, admitting and/or graduating members of a particular racial group. Racial quotas are often established as means of diminishing racial discrimination, addr ...
s and social quotas are a very controversial subject in Brazil. They were implemented by the government as an attempt to minimize the gap between students. That way, students who had their high school education entirely at public schools get quotas. Also, African and Indigenous Brazilian descendants gain a small percentage of bonuses on their Vestibular. That is considered an affirmative action policy.


Court challenge

In August 2005, at
Universidade Federal do Paraná The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...
, a student was granted by a federal
court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
the right to be admitted at the university because she had a better score on the Vestibular than several other freshmen that took advantage of their quotas. In 2012 a law was approved that gave quotas to students who came from public schools. The federal universities (such as UFRJ, UNIFESP, UFPR, UFRGS...) will have to save half of the vacancies for those students. State-owned establishments, such as the
University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the bes ...
, are not currently forced to abide by this law. In spite of this, the several majority of state-owned universities in Brazil adopt the social and racial quotas.


New ENEM (Novo ENEM)

The Ministry of Education and Culture of Brazil (MEC) proposed in 2009 that the universities should use the ENEM (National High School Exam), a non-mandatory national exam, as a standard university entrance qualification test. The "new ENEM", as it is known, is composed of 180 multiple choice questions in five main areas (natural sciences, human sciences, math, Portuguese and either English or Spanish as a foreign language) and an essay. The proposal's main objective is to democratize access to higher education, opportunities for federal jobs, academic mobility and induce the restructuring of the curricula of high school.Ser Universitário
/ref> The universities have the autonomy to choose whether or not they want to use the exam, and if they want to, they can also choose the way it is used: * As a single phase, with a unified system of selection, electronic and online * As the first phase * Combined with the university's test (using it to admit only part of its students or as part of the overall grade, along with a Vestibular) * As a single phase for the remaining chairs


See also

* ''
Cursinho Cursinho (, "little course", also called or ) is a type of cram school, usually private, in many Brazilian cities, and attended by students trying to qualify for university admission through entrance exams (''vestibular''), or by people willing t ...
'' * ''
Concurso público The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
'' General: *
Brazil university rankings Universities in Brazil are ranked in a number of ways, including both national and international ranks. National Rankings Ranking Universitário Folha Brazil's largest newspaper Folha de S. Paulo organizes, since 2012, a national ranking of univ ...
*
Universities and higher education in Brazil Brazil adopts a mixed system of public and privately funded universities. Public universities can be federally funded or financed by State governments (such as USP, Unicamp and Unesp in the State of São Paulo). Private schools can be for-profit ...


References


External links


Mundo Vestibular e Enem
.
Vestibulando Web: Provas e Vestibular
.
Official Website of the FUVEST vestibular
.
Enem - Inep official site
(In Portuguese).
ExerciciosWeb: Exercícios e Questões Enem
(in Portuguese). {{Admission tests Education policy in Brazil Standardized tests Entrance examinations Race and education Affirmative action