Artikkelit

01.10.2025

Overview of Higher Education in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico: Insights from Education at a Glance 2025

Six interesting themes emerged in the Education at a Glance 2025 report for Brazil, Mexico, and Chile: the prevalence of higher education among young adults, wage and employment levels between those with higher education and those with only basic education, and dropout and graduation rates. Additionally, this newsletter looks at the prevalence of gap years, the share of international students, and the public funding in higher education financing.

The theme of the Education at a Glance 2025 report this year is higher education. The report covers 38 OECD countries and 12 partner countries, including in total seven countries from Latin America. This newsletter provides an overview of higher education in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Chile and Mexico are OECD countries, and Brazil is a partner country. The text examines six different themes in higher education. 

Only one to two percent have a master's degree in Latin America

The share of young adults with a tertiary degree has slightly increased in recent years in the OECD countries, reaching 48%. This also applies to Latin America, where only Chile and Argentina did not see growth in tertiary attainment between 2020 and 2022.

However, the share of young adults with a master’s or equivalent degree varies widely across OECD countries, ranging from 1% to 39%, with the average of 16%. In Latin America, this share is notably lower. In Chile, 41% of young adults have completed higher education, with 2% holding a master’s degree. Turning to Brazil, 24% of young adults have completed tertiary education, of whom only 1% held a master’s degree. At the same time, the proportion of young adults (18–24 years) who are neither studying nor working has decreased to 25 % in Brazil, but it still remains considerably higher than in most OECD countries.

Tertiary education does not appear to reduce the risk of unemployment in Mexico

In several Latin American countries, income inequality between different education levels is high. For example, in Brazil, adults with higher education earn nearly three times as much as those with only upper secondary education. This wage premium is significantly higher than the OECD average of 54%. In Chile, the highly educated earn double, and in Mexico, 56 % more.

Higher education also reduces the risk of unemployment in most cases. Across OECD countries, the unemployment rate for those with higher education is around 5%, compared to 13 % for young adults without an upper secondary qualification. Exceptionally in Mexico, unemployment among tertiary-educated young adults is slightly higher than among those without upper secondary education. In Chile and Brazil, unemployment is lower for those with tertiary qualifications than for those with only upper secondary.

The graduation and dropout rates vary significantly between Brazil and Chile

In OECD countries, an average of 43% of higher education students graduate within the expected time. Completion rates increase substantially with extra years. In Brazil, 38 % of new entrants complete their bachelor’s studies within the standard programme duration and the number of graduates increases moderately after one and three additional years, but remains below 50 %. Whereas in Chile, only 13 % of new entrants complete their bachelor’s studies within the expected time and the number of graduates grows significantly with the extra years, reaching 60% after three additional years. In all OECD countries, it is more common for women who begin bachelor’s studies to graduate within three years after the theoretical end of their programme.

On average, 13 % of the first-time bachelor’s students drop out after the first year of study across the OECD countries. In Brazil, this figure is significantly higher, with about one in four students dropping out, while in Chile, the dropout rate is slightly above the OECD average.

The number of international students is slowly growing also in Latin America

It is very common in most OECD countries for students to take at least one gap year before starting a bachelor's degree. In Brazil, three quarters, and in Chile nearly half, of new entrants take a gap year before starting tertiary education. Correspondingly, nearly half of students in OECD countries take a gap year.

The number of international tertiary students has increased significantly in recent years in some OECD countries. The share of international students among all tertiary students rose from 6% to 7.4% in recent years. In Brazil, the share of international tertiary students remained unchanged over the observed period, at 2% of all students, being the highest in Latin America. In Chile, the share of international students increased from 0.5% to 1.5%, while in Mexico the growth was the highest among the three countries, rising from 0.2% to 1.4%.

In Brazil and Mexico, public funding for universities is higher than in Chile

In Brazil and Mexico, the state allocates more funding to higher education and research than to basic education. In Chile, on the other hand, the state funds more basic education. There, tertiary education is still largely financed by private entities, although the amount of public funding has increased since the legislative reform in 2016.

The average spending per tertiary student per year in the OECD countries is 15,102 USD. In the three Latin American countries this spending is significantly lower. The government of Brazil spends approximately 3,765 USD in public funding per tertiary student per year. Mexico spends 4,430 dollars and Chile spends 4,479 dollars per tertiary student, per year.

Writer: Emmi Hiltunen, EDUFI’s TFK-trainee, Consulate of Finland in São Paulo

PHOTO: Students in the University of Chile campus. Credits: Johanna Kivimäki
 

More information

 OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/09/education-at-a-glance-2025_c58fc9ae/1c0d9c79-en.pdf

OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025, Brazil. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/09/education-at-a-glance-2025-country-notes_9749f4ff/brazil_7ad18a24/d42263a0-en.pdf  

OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025, Chile. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/09/education-at-a-glance-2025-country-notes_9749f4ff/chile_49daa412/e68ee91a-en.pdf

OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025, Mexico.https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/09/education-at-a-glance-2025-country-notes_9749f4ff/mexico_364135ce/3b36a6f6-en.pdf