HIGHER EDUCATION ON TOURISM IN BRAZIL: FROM EXPANSION TO DIVERSIFICATION

Abstract

Higher education in tourism in Brazil came upon in 1971, with the creation of the first course in the College of Tourism of Anhembi (SP). From the end of the 1990s an explosion of such courses occurs, disquieting scholars of that area. The concern to know where, how and when higher education in Tourism grew in Brazil, and its contribution to the understanding of this process, resulted in the present paper, which aims at picturing the expansion of higher education in this area. In order to reach this purpose, this study uses official statistics obtained at e-MEC, INEP, and information obtained from official sites of such courses. The results of the investigation indicate that the motions towards the higher education in tourism follow the Brazilian higher Education motions with a wide support from the private sector, realized both under traditional ways and the creation of technological courses, and also through distant education modality. The expansion that occurred some time ago is modified by the closing down of several courses thus showing some excess in their own offer. There is a gap between the number of undergraduate courses and their respective graduate courses, strict sensu level, and this signal to the urgent need to invest in this direction.