Forestry education institutions

Undergraduate

Forestry education in Brazil began in 1960 with the installation of the first undergraduate course in Forest Engineering in the country. Over the following decades, teaching expanded with the establishment of seven courses in the 1970s, followed by five more in the 1980s and another five in the 1990s, totaling 20 forest education schools by the year 2000. From then on, forestry education grew abruptly, tripling the number of undergraduate courses by 2017.

In 2023, according to data from the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP), there are at least 71 bachelor's courses in Forest Engineering in the face-to-face modality throughout the country, offered by 62 higher education institutions.

**Figure 49** - Number of institutions and undergraduate courses in Forest Engineering in Brazil between 2018 and 2023.

Most Forest Engineering courses are concentrated in the North (31%) and Southeast (23%) regions, which together are home to 50% of the institutions that offer these courses in Brazil.

**Figure 50** - Number of undergraduate courses and institutions in Forest Engineering by regions of Brazil in 2023.

In 2023, Brazilian universities provided 7,700 vacancies for undergraduate courses in Forest Engineering, representing an increase of 20% compared to 2018. However, the number of new students is well below the total number of places, with a 23% drop in enrollment since 2018. A similar trend is observed in the number of trainees. In 2023, there were 9,300 students enrolled in the course, and approximately 1,000 students completed their degree in Forest Engineering in the same year.

**Figure 51** - Number of vacancies available and number of students entering undergraduate courses in Forest Engineering in Brazil between 2018 and 2023.

**Figure 52** - Number of students enrolled and number of students graduating from undergraduate courses in Forest Engineering in Brazil between 2018 and 2023.

In 2018, the distribution of Forest Engineering students by gender was balanced, with a slight male majority. However, this dynamic was reversed in the following years, with females being the majority in Forest Engineering courses.

**Figure 53** - Number of students entering Forest Engineering undergraduate courses in Brazil between 2018 and 2023 according to the student's gender.

Post-graduate

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Post-graduate education in Forest Engineering in Brazil began in the 1970s. In 1973, the Curitiba School created the first master's course in Forest Engineering in Brazil, followed by Viçosa and the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1976, and the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) in 1980. In 1982, the Curitiba School also inaugurated the first doctoral course in Forest Engineering in the country, followed by Viçosa in 1989.

Information on graduate courses in Brazil is provided by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), a body linked to the Ministry of Education. This publication is based on CAPES’s open data, which presents detailed data from students, professors and programs.

**Figure 54** - Postgraduate courses linked to the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering.

In 2018, Brazil had 42 graduate programs in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering, including master's, professional master's and doctoral degrees. This number grew to 43 courses in 2019 and remained stable until 2022. As for institutions, in 2018 the courses were distributed across 23 higher education institutions, increasing to 24 in 2020 and remaining stable until 2022. Between 2018 and 2022, 13 institutions offered doctoral courses and two offered professional master's courses.

Table 35 - Number of institutions (I) and Graduate Programs (P) in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering in Brazil between 2018 and 2022 ¹. Download data

Postgraduate Program	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022
Postgraduate Program	P	I	P	I	P	I	P	I	P	I
Wood Science and Technology	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1
Forest Science	7	4	7	4	7	4	7	4	7	4
Environmental and Forestry Sciences	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1
Tropical Forest Sciences	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1
Forest Science	12	8	13	9	13	9	13	9	13	9
Forestry and Environmental Sciences	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Biomaterials Engineering	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1
Forest Engineering	8	5	8	5	8	5	8	5	8	5
Management of Protected Areas in the Amazon	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Forest Resources	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1
Pulp and Paper Technology	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Total	42	23	43	24	43	24	43	24	43	24

Source: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES/MEC, 2024).

¹ The number of programs is the sum of the master's, professional master's and doctoral programs.

**Figure 55** - Graduate courses by level of education in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering in 2022.

Of the 24 institutions that offered graduate courses in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering in 2022, eight are located in the Southeast region, totaling 20 courses and 236 professors. In addition, the North and South regions have five institutions each, with seven and eight courses and 122 and 115 professors, respectively.

**Figure 56** - Courses, professors and graduate institutions in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering in Brazil in 2022.

Between 2018 and 2022, the number of professors in postgraduate courses in the forestry area increased from 547 to 550 in 2019, but fell to 526 in 2022. The course with the highest number of professors in 2022 was Forest Sciences, with 141 professors, followed by Forest Engineering, with 120.

Table 36 - Number of professors by Graduate Programs in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering in Brazil between 2018 and 2022 ¹. Download data

Postgraduate Program	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Wood Science and Technology	14	14	14	14	13
Forest Science	97	100	96	91	92
Environmental and Forestry Sciences	24	22	21	27	27
Tropical Forest Sciences	25	24	24	25	25
Forest Science	141	152	141	150	141
Forestry and Environmental Sciences	57	57	54	55	53
Biomaterials Engineering	17	17	18	18	19
Forest Engineering	132	126	127	125	120
Management of Protected Areas in the Amazon	32	32	29	33	29
Forest Resources	29	28	31	31	31
Pulp and Paper Technology	10	12	11	10	11
Total unique professors	547	550	535	545	526

Source: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES/MEC, 2024).

Regarding the number of students, 1,298 students were enrolled in graduate programs in the forestry area in 2022. This year, 435 students graduated, of which 273 were master's students, 156 were doctoral students, and 6 were professional masters students.

Table 37 - Number of students enrolled and titled in graduate courses in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering in Brazil between 2018 and 2022 ¹. Download data

Year	Student	Professional Master's Degree	Master	Doctorate	Total
2018	Enrolled	15	790	703	1.508
2018	Titled	18	376	171	565
2019	Enrolled	16	794	672	1.482
2019	Titled	11	351	186	548
2020	Enrolled	11	759	639	1.409
2020	Titled	2	333	152	487
2021	Enrolled	29	717	666	1.412
2021	Titled	2	312	132	446
2022	Enrolled	19	659	620	1.298
2022	Titled	6	273	156	435

Source: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES/MEC, 2024).

Regarding the entry of students, in 2022 there were 272 new master's students and 128 doctoral students in the area of Forest Engineering and Forest Resources. However, since 2018, enrollment numbers have been declining, with a 36% reduction in master's programs and a 28% reduction in doctoral programs. In this period, of the 2,501 students who entered, 22 dropped out and 51 were dismissed from the postgraduate course.

**Figure 57** - Number of students entering graduate courses in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering in Brazil between 2018 and 2022.

Of the students who entered this period, 99% are Brazilian (Figure 5). Even so, Brazil also received postgraduate students from 15 countries, mainly from Mozambique (7 students) and Peru (5 students).