Student Grant in Public Universities: A Comparative Study Between Brazil and Portugal

This comparative study, using a case study between two public universities in Brazil and Portugal, aims to analyze the institutionalization of scholarships policies for university students and characterize the assignment guidelines, systematizing its forms of access. Scholarships are a mechanism of social response from the student aid systems that facilitates educational attainment through attendance to students from vulnerable social groups and the democratization of access to higher education (Menezes, 2012). Through methodological procedures of documental and bibliographic research, the analysis suggest that regarding the institutionalization there are no significant differences between the policies of the two countries, being part of the policy indicator legacy of the corporatist model of welfare, verified through the content of the rules, especially in the high familiarization and subsidiary degrees. Concerning the assignment guidelines, a greater responsibility of the state is observed in the Portuguese university with regards to the level of regulations than present at the Brazilian university, which had relative autonomy in the specifics rules, however shows weakness in the principles and guidelines. The legalistic understanding about the scholarships is variable, on the Portuguese side the scholarship is a joint participation between the state and students and, on the Brazilian side it is financial assistance to minimize inequalities. The largest coverage is verified as being at the Portuguese university where 30% of the total number of enrolled students have scholarships (including master degree), in sharp contrast with the Brazilian university which has just 7,3% of the total number of enrolled students with scholarships. The monthly amounts of scholarships are significantly different, but the additional aid, granted separately, at the Brazilian university offsets this. The preliminary analysis suggests that the aims of the scholarship between the two countries are conditioned by the different models of funding for educational and other public policies.