What is the initiative and where is it implemented (city or country, for example)?
The community colleges and universities in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina in the south of Brazil emerged between 1940 and 1960 as community-based initiatives with the intention of engaging the local population seeking access to higher education. The distinctiveness of community universities (often referred to as Community Higher Education Institutions, CHEIs) is reflected in their hybrid state: combining the characteristics of both state and private organizations, they cannot be defined as either. Their non-profit and non-religious status, as well as their hybrid governing mode and their aims of social, economic and cultural development, ensure inclusion and result in management structures that enable local community representation and a democratic decision-making process. (Fioreze and McCowan, 2018).
How was the initiative established? How was it implemented?
The community institution model originated in the nineteenth century when the European immigrants, primarily from Germany, but later also from Poland and Italy, established settlements in the south of Brazil and opened schools to educate their children (Fioreze and McCowan, 2018). Community universities and colleges that emerged in the latter half of the twentieth century are likewise committed to the local development of economic and sociocultural aspects of the regions through extensive research and community engagement. Santa Catarina has 16 universities functioning in 56 cities, providing education for more than 150,000 students (Unochapecó, 2020).
The tendency to appoint established lecturers to administrative and managerial positions as career development means that the institutions suffer from a lack of professional management. Hence, most community higher education institutions display a need for professionalizing management leading to campus re-engineering justified by the necessity to reduce expenses (Fossatti et al., 2020).
Which stakeholders are involved in the design and/or implementation of the initiative? Which sectors do they represent?
Combining characteristics of both private and public educational institutions, community universities represent both private and public sectors simultaneously, belonging to neither of them. Community universities are non-profit institutions that do not have a private owner but rather belong to a foundation or association. National legislation obliges CHEIs to reinvest all financial profit into the university. It is estimated that 80 per cent of their funding is private, including tuition fees and donations, and 20 per cent is public, constituting tax exemptions. Stakeholders supporting community colleges and universities include the government, donors who provide scholarship funds, regional community members, representatives of varied academic segments such as lecturers, students and non-academic staff, and vice-chancellors, who are elected democratically to represent academic personnel (Fioreze and McCowan, 2018).
What are the impacts of the initiative in terms of facilitating lifelong learning? Whom does it benefit and how?
The establishment and development of CHEIs resulted in an increasing level of education across the two states. Twenty-four community universities across the two states provide a net enrolment ratio of 21.3 per cent in the Rio Grande do Sul, and 23.2 per cent in Santa Catarina, figures higher than the national average of 18.1 per cent. Students enrolling in CHEIs get access to four-year education programmes from departments, such as Management and Business, Communication, Humanities, Environment and Agrarian Sciences or various technologies, unlike, for instance, community colleges in the United States which offer mostly vocational training and programmes of two years’ duration which do not equate to a Bachelor’s degree.
Community universities benefit not only their students but also the wider local population owing to the distinctive CHEI characteristic of carrying out service activities that mediate connection between university and community development. Such actions are usually centred on socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and are financed mainly by students’ tuition fees.
While research and service activities remain the main distinctive characteristic of the community universities, an interest in establishing scientific and technological parks has been increasingly noticeable, signifying a tighter connection with industry and increased attention towards community needs. A focus on innovation and the creation of new spaces for high-quality production work can lead to positive effects on the community's daily life (Fioreze and McCowan, 2018).
References
Fioreze, C. and McCowan, T., 2018. Community universities in the south of Brazil: Prospects and challenges of a model of non-state public higher education. Comparative Education, 54(3), pp. 1–20 [online] Available at: http://periodicos.unievangelica.edu.br/index.php/fronteiras/article/view/3720/3562 [Accessed 26 July 2021].
Fossatti, P., Monticelli, J. M., Danesi, L. C. and Jung, H. S., 2020. Limits of sustainability management at community universities. Fronteiras. Journal of Social, Technological and Environmental Science, 9(3), pp. 33–54.
Unochapeco, 2020. As Escolas do Conhecimento. [Online] Available at: www.unochapeco.edu.br/info/as-escolas-do-conhecimento [Accessed 5 April 2021].