Evidences of ENADE - changes in the mathematics graduates profile

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to the discussions on public policies concerning graduate courses in Mathematics with a diagnosis of: evolution of the supply, the profile of graduates and their placement in the labor market. For this, we used data from the INEP (National Institute of Educational Studies Ani´sio Teixeira) and IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). It was observed that the increase in supply was not accompanied by the interest in the area of mathematics, and the ratio between the number of enrollments and graduates is low. For description of the socioeconomic profile of students who complete the course we appealed to the Principal Component Analysis, with data from all areas of the graduates who took the ENADE (National Survey of Student of Higher Education Performance) 2004-2011. The factors obtained show that, on average, Mathematics graduates are among those socioeconomically less affluent among the areas evaluated by ENADE. One can also note a difference among those with a BA and those with a License (in Brazil, a BA in Math does not entitle a person to teach, a License is necessary. Students with BA go on to get MSc and PhD), the latter less affluent. Finally, the survey sample of the 2010 Census allowed detecting that the teaching is the career of most mathematicians, especially for women, but also shows that many operate in activities midlevel or not related to the area. This study is easily replicable for other areas.