The main objective of this article is to present a critical analysis of the post-1996 LDB (Law of Basic Tenets and Guidelines of Brazilian Education) educational policies regarding the expansion of higher education in Brazil. It seeks to identify and discuss the new configurations of that expansion. It focuses more particularly on the creation of nets of educational firms from 2007 on, showing that the acquisition or merging of Brazilian higher education private institutions by national and international educational firms that went public has yielded oligopolies. Its methodological resources come from a variety of documental sources, in particular websites of educational firms and the Brazilian traditional and electronic news agencies. Its final considerations point out some tendencies towards the mercantilization of higher education in Brazil.
Higher education expansion; Mercantilization; Privatization; Oligopolies
