Colleges in the United States and faculdades in Brazil were the first higher education institutions in those countries which existed before universities. These two old and traditional institutions, radically different from each other, have marked deeply the development of higher education in both countries. Most colleges were private from the beginning, they used to be more dependent on their Board of Trustees than on the English Crown, having also a profound religious orientation. The first faculdades in Brazil were founded by Dom João VI, Prince Regent, in the beginning of the XIX century, almost two hundred years latter than Harvard. They followed the French Great Schools model: were lay institutions, with a strong professional orientation. Their professors used to be well known medical doctors, usually not strongly committed to their academic activities. In the United States, professors lived in the college with the students and they assumed the responsibility of building their character, through their life examples and their in loco parentis function. This article draws a parallel on higher education in the United States and Brazil, placing greater emphasis on the influence of the origin of the two systems. It shows how the model of the first institutions in each country turned out to be a significant mark which can be felt until our days.
HIGHER EDUCATION; HISTORY OF EDUCATION; BRAZIL; USA