6. HIGHER EDUCATION KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY PHASE
6.2. Knowledge Discovery through the Global SOM
6.2.1. The HEIs attributes grouped: The Global SOM
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depending on funding (65%).
4 – The highest number of
entrants
Students status HEIs with the highest number (39%) of entrants.
Sex HEIs with 50% of female students.
OECD area of predominance
It has the predominance of students in OECD 3 (Social Sciences, Business, and Law).
Financial information It has the lowest proportion (4%) of students depending on funding
5 – Undergraduate
students
Students status
It has the highest rate of undergraduate students, and the smallest number of students, HEIs, courses, and the rate of students per course. It has around 15% of entrants.
Sex It has the highest rate (75%) of female students.
OECD area of predominance
HEIs with the predominance of students in OECD 1 (Education).
Financial information It has 9% of students depending on funding.
As a result, it was possible to visualize the student`s characteristics, their OECD areas of preference for undergraduate courses, their sex prevalence, and funding dependence.
Based on the student’s analysis, it is possible to visualize the clusters with HEIs which have the greatest and lowest number of entrants, enrolled and graduates. The HEIs whose students most depend on public funding, and their sex prevalence, as already mentioned.
Thus, HEIs can be grouped according to their attributes:
a) The institutions with the lowest number of entrants and the lowest rate of female students as in cluster 1.
b) The institutions with the largest number of enrolled and the lowest number of undergraduate students as in cluster 2.
c) The institutions which have the greatest number of students depending on public financing as in cluster 3.
d) The institutions, which have the highest number of entrants and the lowest proportion of students based on government funding as in cluster 4.
e) The institutions which have the highest rate of undergraduate students and the highest rate of female students as in cluster 5.
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dimensions already explored. The number of six (6) clusters was found through the previous adopted techniques and clusters are identified through their labels, from number 1 to 6 (Fig.57).Fig. 57 Visualization of the clusters for the Global SOM
Cluster 1 concentrates its courses’ offer (72%) in the Education area (OECD 1 and has the highest number of licentiate courses. It groups the HEIs which have the highest percentual of undergraduate students (24%) and the highest proportion of female students in OECD area 1 (74%). Cluster 1 has the largest number of absent (6%) and female (57%) teachers.
Cluster 2 is the smallest (=84) regarding the number of HEIs. It is the only one that offers courses in the Humanities and Arts Area (OECD 2). It has the lowest number of technological courses. It has the lowest number of students depending on public financing.
It has the highest proportion of Ph.D. professors and the lowest proportion of female teachers. It has, on average, the highest number of entrants and the female students in OECD area 2 (76%). It also groups the youngest and the oldest students in OECD areas 6 and 2, respectively.
Cluster 3 has the highest number of courses in Science, Math, and Computing (25%, OECD 4), and Engineering, Production and Construction areas (54%, OECD 5). It has the lowest number of courses in the field of Education and Humanities and Arts and the lowest number of licentiate courses. It also has the lowest proportion of female students. The OECD area 5 is the area that has the highest percentage (47%) of women students.
Clusters 2 and 3 have the lowest number of females’ professors.
Cluster 4 has the highest number of public institutions and groups most of the universities.
It has the largest number of courses in the Health and Wellness area (29%, OECD 7), and Agriculture and Veterinary (3%, OECD 6) areas. It has the highest number (n=384.29) of administrative employees and professors. It has the largest proportion of male students (72%). It distinguishes itself for having the highest number of total courses, bachelor and technological, in classroom and e-learning modes. It has the highest number of total enrolled students, and the smallest number of entrants, on average, and 34% of their female students are in OECD area 7. Cluster 4 is the biggest of all of them: has the highest
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number of total professors, the most significant number of undergraduate and specialist professors; teachers with master and Ph.D. degrees.Cluster 5 has the most significant number of private institutions, both for-profit and non-profit, and groups most of the faculties. It is the biggest concerning the number of HEIs (n=
807). It concentrates its offer in the Social Sciences, Business, and Law areas (72%, OECD 3). It has the greatest proportion of professors with a master’s degree and the smallest number of administrative employees (n=47.43) and total courses, bachelor's in classroom and e-learning modes. It has the fewest enrolled students and 78% of their female students enrolled in OECD area 3. Cluster 5 is the smallest with the lowest number of total professors and the lowest number of teachers with master and Ph.D. degrees.
Cluster 6 comprises the HEIs with the highest values of incomes, other revenues, the highest investment expenses, the highest values with professor and staff remuneration and the greatest number of students; they are the ones with no resources from transference.
They have the highest number of entrants (first-year students), students with financial funding, and the lowest number of professors with master and Ph.D. degrees. It groups the HEIs which has the lowest proportion of students who achieve an undergraduate degree (13%) and has the highest proportion of students (69%) depending on government funding.
Distinguishes itself as it arranges eminently private institutions (99%).
Concerning the age of the enrolled students, the oldest students are concentrated in Cluster 2, in the field of Humanities & Arts (OECD 2). It is observed that the age considered ideal for undergraduate students, which was from 18 to 24, has already increased in all OECD Areas. The youngest students are, on average, 23 years old, and are enrolled in Agriculture and Veterinary undergraduate courses (OECD 6).
For the SOM carried out globally, to evaluate the intercorrelations among all previous dimensions for SOM components, we could identify new and distinct relevant information.
It detected six clusters about the underlying components. This Global SOM allowed us to compare its variables against each other and to find interesting new relationships as, per example, some areas of OECD which have not been mentioned before and the administrative and academic categories of the HEIs, which were not so relevant for the previous analysis, as below:
Cluster 1 is eminently dedicated to the Education area (OECD 1) and has the highest number of licentiate courses.
Cluster 2 is the only one who dedicates itself to the courses in the Humanities and Arts area (OECD 2).
Cluster 3 concentrates its offer in the Science, Math and Computing and Engineering, Production and Construction areas.
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Cluster 4 has the highest number of public institutions and groups most of the universities.It has the highest number of courses in the Health and Wellness area (OECD 7) and Agriculture and Veterinary (OECD 6). It is the biggest cluster.
Cluster 5 has the highest number of private institutions, both for-profit and non-profit, and groups most of the faculties. It concentrates its offer in the Social Sciences, Business, and Law areas (OECD 3).
Cluster 6 comprises the HEIs with the highest values of incomes, other revenues, the highest investment expenses, the highest values with professor and staff remuneration and the greatest number of students; also, they are the ones with no resources from transference. It groups the HEIs which are eminently private institutions (99%).
These results, which consider all the variables of the dimension beforehand analyzed, increment the ones achieved only for the independent HEIs’ SOM components and allows a more detailed view of all HEIs, their undergraduate courses, professors and students in the country.
According to Figure 58Erro! Fonte de referência não encontrada., it is observed that the distribution of undergraduate courses among the HEI’s clusters assume distinct compositions if considered the OECD Main Areas.
For this study purpose, the analysis will focus on the identification of the HEIs, which concentrate their offer exclusively in a specific OECD main area and could, therefore, be considered a niche institution. Additionally, the evaluation of the courses of these ‘focused’
institutions,' through the IGC Index, will be considered to assess their quality. For better visualization the legend adopted is as follows (Table 5858):
Table 58 Legend for Courses Distribution according to OECD Main Areas
Below, the visualization of the distribution of undergraduate courses offered by the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), according to OECD Main Areas, per year:
Legend Description
OECD main area 1, Education OECD main area 2, Humanities and Arts
OECD main area 3, Social Sciences, Business and Law OECD main area 4, Science, Math and Computing
OECD main area 5, Engineering, Production, and Construction OECD main area 6, Agriculture and Veterinary
OECD main area 7, Health and Social Welfare OECD main area 8, Services
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Fig. 58 Distribution of undergraduate courses offered by the HEIs according to OECD Main Areas, 2010-2015
By comparing the images from the years 2010 to 2015 (Figure 58), it is possible to visually identify the correlation between the distribution of the HEIs and their courses in different OECD areas. Complementarily, the maps below (Figure 59) illustrate the HEIs clusters and their distribution in the Brazilian territory.
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Fig. 59 HEIs and their cluster’s distribution, per state, in Brazil, 2010-2015