Brasília - Of Brazil's 1,652 private higher education institutions, 1,001 have already adhered to the University for All program (ProUni). According to the Minister of Education,
Tarso Genro, the "expectations were surpassed," since the initial goal of the program was to make 70 thousand places available, annually, for low-income students, and so far 81,791 places have been offered.

"The ProUni is a program for the creation of full and partial scholarships. It aims to expand the number of students in higher education. With the increase in places, expectations also grow," the Ministers explains.

48 thousand scholarships will be full, that is, the students won't have to pay anything. The rest will get partial financial assistance. The program offers full scholarships to students from families with a per capita monthly income of up to one and a half minimum wages (US$ 138.00, or R$ 390.00) and partial scholarships to students from families with a per capita monthly income of less than three minimum wages (US$ 276.00, or R$ 780.00). To qualify, students must have received all of their secondary education in public schools or, if they attended private schools, have been the beneficiaries of full scholarships.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Cristiane Peres
Translator: David Silberstein
11/05/2004