65 In: Stromquist, Nelly P. (ed) The Professoriate in the age of globalization. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2007, pp.65-86 ELIZABETH BALBACHEVSKY THE CHANGING PATTERNS OF THE BRAZILIAN ACADEMIC PROFESSION IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION INTRODUCTION The last decade of 20 th century was a period of major changes in the Brazilian society. Until the 1990s, Brazil was a closed economy. Among the Brazilian elite the prevailing notion was one that linked development to the government’s success in protecting Brazilian enterprises. Autarchic, hierarchical, and centralized perspectives were then predominant. The opening of the economy, even though moderate, exposed Brazilian enterprises to an unusual high level of competition. The monetary stabilization 1 , a successful privatization program, and a new regulatory framework, adopted by the constitutional amendments of the 1990s, created a new macroeconomic environment. This new environment has put new pressures on the Brazilian higher education system. Some of these pressures originated at the demand side, others were put into effect by governmental decisions. This paper aims to outline the evolution of Brazilian higher education under the new framework created by the demands put by the all-encompassing globalizing process, the new societal environment and the measures adopted by the Brazilian government. It describes the most relevant features of Brazil’s higher education system, sketches briefly some major historical features, and ends with a picture of the most recent trends, trying to highlight how the new institutional environment affects and is affected by the academic profession, here taken as a relevant actor shaping the patterns of the country’s responses to the new societal environment. For this analysis we will use the data collected in two national surveys on the Brazilian academic profession. The first one took place in 1992 and was supported by the Carnegie Foundation under the international project “International Academic Profession.” The second survey took place ten years later, in 2003 and was supported by the Ford Foundation. Both surveys use the same sample design and parameters, which enables comparing similar variables in two time periods. The analysis of more recent changes in Brazilian higher education landscape is based on the data collected in official documents and on 15 interviews made in the first semester of 2006. Five interviews were made with scholars from the public sector, five others with scholars from the private sector. Three other interviews were made with former public sector scholars now holding senior administrative positions in private universities and another one with a scholar also holding a high administrative position in a public university. Finally there was one interview made with a senior official from the Brazilian Ministry of Education.