A educação superior em Santa Catarina: um século de história (1917-2017)

This paper presents the results of research on the process of creation and expansion / internalization of higher education in Santa Catarina. It is a study that aims to analyze the evolution of higher education in Santa Catarina based on local and regional specificities (contexts and realities). The choice is associated with the fact that in 2017 the State completed one hundred years of implementation of the first higher education courses. The research was developed through quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques. The bibliographical research was based on Cunha (2007), Saviani (2007, 2010), Romanelli (1989), Freitag (1980), Muniz (2006), Sampaio (2000), Pegoraro 2013), and Gumbowsky (2004). Already, the quest for quantitative data occurred mainly in the bases of the National Institute of Studies and Educational Research Anisio Teixeira (INEP). The research reveals that SC expansion has taken place through educational foundations under private law. The foundational model was hegemonic until the 2000s, when the expansion of public higher education courses and private higher education courses for-profit began to take place. Of the total higher education courses in 2015 (94 in all), 88% were private (for-profit and non-profit). Graduation at distance has expanded with high growth rates; however, enrollments in undergraduate courses still represent, in 2015, 72% of the universe of students from Santa Catarina.