CCollegeMatcher

🇧🇷 2,546 institutions · 10,227,266 enrolments

Brazil's universities, from the national census — half of all enrolments are now distance learning.

Every institution in the 2024 higher-education census: how many it enrols in person and at a distance, how many enter and graduate, what they study, and whether its courses are free. Public institutions enrol 19.7% of the total.

Browse by state →Match your ENEM marks to Sisu cut-offs →Largest public universities

Enrolments, 2024

10,227,266

On distance courses

50.7%

5,189,391

Entrants

5,010,551

Graduates

1,333,988

Fees, admission and what the numbers count

Federal and state institutions charge no tuition for undergraduate courses — that is in Brazil's constitution — and the census marks each course as free or not. Private institutions set their own fees, which the census does not record. Admission to public universities is mostly through the national ENEM exam and SISU; cut-off scores are not in the census, but the ministry's Sisu cut-offs for the participating public institutions are in the matcher.

Figures are enrolments (matrículas) in undergraduate courses on the 2024 census, not people: a student on two courses is counted twice. Postgraduate study is not in this census.

Who runs them

CategoryInstitutionsEnrolmentsShare
Federal (public)1221,317,54812.9%
State (public)139666,9806.5%
Municipal (public)2835,1390.3%
Private, for-profit1,4746,372,47462.3%
Private, non-profit7551,789,72517.5%
Special (public, not necessarily free)2845,4000.4%

Largest public institutions

Federal, state and municipal, by total enrolments.

  1. Fundação Universidade Virtual do Estado de São Paulo · SP69,717
  2. Universidade de São Paulo · SP62,173
  3. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro · RJ50,105
  4. Universidade Federal Fluminense · RJ43,774
  5. Universidade de Brasília · DF39,509
  6. Universidade Federal do Maranhão · MA37,212
  7. Universidade Federal do Pará · PA36,068
  8. Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho · SP35,169
  9. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais · MG33,909
  10. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro · RJ33,636

Largest by in-person enrolment

Counting only students taught on campus.

  1. Universidade Paulista · SP96,994
  2. Universidade Nove de Julho · SP83,440
  3. Universidade Estácio de Sá · RJ73,502
  4. Universidade de São Paulo · SP62,173
  5. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro · RJ47,077
  6. Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul · SP43,708
  7. Universidade de Brasília · DF38,523
  8. Universidade Federal Fluminense · RJ37,162
  9. Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais · MG35,900
  10. Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho · SP34,714

The largest distance-learning providers

These six alone hold 52.0% of all distance enrolments.

  1. Universidade Pitágoras Unopar Anhanguera · PR836,889 at a distance
  2. Centro Universitário Leonardo da Vinci · SC579,750 at a distance
  3. Universidade Cesumar · PR477,003 at a distance
  4. Universidade Estácio de Sá · RJ357,747 at a distance
  5. Centro Universitário Internacional · PR285,756 at a distance
  6. Universidade Paulista · SP163,368 at a distance

All institutions, by state

An institution is listed under the state of its seat; in-person enrolments are shown, because distance students may live anywhere.

Acre

10 institutions · 17,486 in person

Alagoas

29 institutions · 69,459 in person

Amapá

15 institutions · 24,070 in person

Amazonas

31 institutions · 115,328 in person

Bahia

144 institutions · 252,860 in person

Ceará

102 institutions · 207,644 in person

Distrito Federal

62 institutions · 133,485 in person

Espírito Santo

67 institutions · 87,540 in person

Goiás

128 institutions · 169,352 in person

Maranhão

66 institutions · 126,996 in person

Mato Grosso

74 institutions · 90,489 in person

Mato Grosso do Sul

31 institutions · 65,947 in person

Minas Gerais

301 institutions · 483,107 in person

Pará

76 institutions · 160,939 in person

Paraíba

46 institutions · 123,494 in person

Paraná

170 institutions · 308,690 in person

Pernambuco

118 institutions · 217,073 in person

Piauí

48 institutions · 86,311 in person

Rio de Janeiro

126 institutions · 440,695 in person

Rio Grande do Norte

27 institutions · 90,560 in person

Rio Grande do Sul

117 institutions · 239,227 in person

Rondônia

31 institutions · 43,161 in person

Roraima

9 institutions · 14,629 in person

Santa Catarina

100 institutions · 194,315 in person

São Paulo

575 institutions · 1,179,554 in person

Sergipe

20 institutions · 50,770 in person

Tocantins

23 institutions · 44,694 in person

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Source: Inep/MEC — Microdados do Censo da Educação Superior 2024, listed on dados.gov.br under Creative Commons Attribution. Changes: course records summed per institution, names converted from capitals, and categories translated by CollegeMatcher. Course names are Inep's, in Portuguese.