Restructuring of the Brazilian Private Higher Education Sector through the Entry of Foreign Investment

Abstract

Merger, acquisition, and alliance events have been taking place since 2001 in the Brazilian private higher education sector. This has resulted in the expansion of educational groups through foreign investments. The study evaluates data from educational groups’ institutions between the years 2014 to 2017. It was possible to verify that a restructuring of the sector is underway through the calculation of the Hirschman-Herfindahl index. It was perceived that a possible market concentration is underway in in-class undergraduate courses and that online learning courses are already concentrated.