Overview of physical therapy graduation courses in Brazil: current scenario

Abstract Introduction: After the regulation of Physical Therapy (PT) in 1969, there were only six undergraduate courses in Brazil. In the 90s, higher education underwent major expansion in all professions and the same occurred to PT, with consequent increase in the number of professionals in the labor market and privatization of education. Objective: To describe the current situation of PT courses in Brazil offered by Higher Education Institutions (IES). Methods: The data for the region, academic organization, situation, period, school system, administrative category, vacancies, course hours and duration were obtained from the website of the Ministry of Education (MEC) and refer to the year of 2013. The descriptive analyzes of central tendency, dispersion and percentage were performed in Stata 9®. Results: From the total of 550 IES registered in the MEC, 281 (51%) were in the Southeast. Regarding the academic organization, 341 (62%) corresponded to universities and 483 (87.9%) of the IES were private. Of the courses, 521 (94.7%) are active, the predominant school system was the semiannual (91.5%) and 438 were part-time. The average vacancies authorized by the IES were 129 ± 102, with at least 44,900 vacancies available in the country. Of the courses, 75% had 4,000 hours of duration with the minimum of seven semesters and a maximum of fourteen. Conclusion: The data show a higher offer of PT courses in the private sector compared to the public. There was a progressive concentration of courses and vacancies in the Southeast, especially in São Paulo.

摘要与引言：1969年巴西物理治疗（Physical Therapy, PT）专业完成行业规范化后，全国仅设有6个本科专业。20世纪90年代，巴西高等教育领域各专业均迎来大规模扩招，物理治疗专业亦不例外，随之而来的是劳动力市场中物理治疗从业者数量的增长，以及教育行业的私有化进程。
研究目的：描述巴西高等教育机构（Higher Education Institutions, IES）开设的物理治疗专业的当前办学现状。
研究方法：本研究从巴西教育部（Ministry of Education, MEC）官网获取相关数据，数据统计时点为2013年，涵盖办学区域、学术组织形式、办学状态、学制体系、行政类别、招生名额、课程总学时及修业年限等维度。采用Stata 9®软件完成集中趋势、离散程度及百分比的描述性统计分析。
研究结果：在巴西教育部登记在册的550所高等教育机构中，有281所（占比51%）位于东南部地区。从学术组织形式来看，341所（占比62%）为综合性大学，483所（占比87.9%）为私立办学机构。在所有物理治疗专业项目中，521个（占比94.7%）处于正常运营状态；主流教学体系为半学年制（占比91.5%），另有438个项目为非全日制办学。各高等教育机构获批的平均招生名额为129±102，全国总招生名额至少达44900个。75%的专业项目总学时为4000小时，最短修业年限为7个学期，最长为14个学期。
研究结论：数据显示，巴西物理治疗专业的办学资源向私立机构倾斜，私立专业点数量多于公立机构。物理治疗专业项目及招生名额正逐步向东南部地区集中，尤以圣保罗州最为显著。