Higher and Graduate Education: Census, ENADE, IDD, CPC, IGC, and CAPES • educabR

This vignette covers higher education and graduate education datasets available in educabR. These datasets allow you to analyze institutions, courses, student performance, and quality indicators across Brazilian higher education.

library(educabR)
library(dplyr)
library(ggplot2)

Higher Education Census (Censo da Educacao Superior)

The Higher Education Census is an annual survey covering all Brazilian higher education institutions (IES), including data on institutions, courses, student enrollment, and faculty.

Available data types

Type	Description
`"ies"`	Institutions (location, administrative type, accreditation)
`"cursos"`	Undergraduate courses (area, modality, enrollment)
`"alunos"`	Student enrollment (demographics, enrollment status)
`"docentes"`	Faculty (qualifications, employment type)

Downloading data

# Institution data
ies_2023 <- get_censo_superior(year = 2023, type = "ies")

# Course data filtered by state
cursos_sp <- get_censo_superior(year = 2023, type = "cursos", uf = "SP")

# Faculty data with limited rows
docentes_sample <- get_censo_superior(
  year  = 2023,
  type  = "docentes",
  n_max = 10000
)

Available years

Data is available from 2009 to 2024.

Exploring ZIP contents

# See what files are inside the downloaded ZIP
list_censo_superior_files(2023)

Example analysis: Institutions by administrative type

ies <- get_censo_superior(2023, type = "ies")

ies_summary <- 
  ies |>
  mutate(
    admin_type = case_when(
      tp_categoria_administrativa == 1 ~ "Public Federal",
      tp_categoria_administrativa == 2 ~ "Public State",
      tp_categoria_administrativa == 3 ~ "Public Municipal",
      tp_categoria_administrativa == 4 ~ "Private For-Profit",
      tp_categoria_administrativa == 5 ~ "Private Non-Profit",
      TRUE ~ "Other"
    )
  ) |>
  count(admin_type, sort = TRUE)

ggplot(ies_summary, aes(x = reorder(admin_type, n), y = n)) +
  geom_col(fill = "steelblue") +
  coord_flip() +
  labs(
    title = "Higher Education Institutions by Type (2023)",
    x     = NULL,
    y     = "Number of Institutions"
    ) +
  theme_minimal()

ENADE - National Student Performance Exam

ENADE (Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes) is an annual exam assessing undergraduate student performance. It follows a rotating cycle where different course areas are evaluated each year.

Downloading ENADE data

# Download ENADE microdata
enade_2023 <- get_enade(year = 2023)

# Sample for exploration
enade_sample <- get_enade(year = 2023, n_max = 5000)

Available years

Data is available from 2004 to 2024.

Example analysis: Score distribution

enade <- get_enade(2023, n_max = 20000)

# Score distribution
enade |>
  filter(!is.na(nt_ger)) |>
  ggplot(aes(x = nt_ger)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 40, fill = "darkgreen", alpha = 0.7) +
  labs(
    title = "ENADE 2023 - General Score Distribution",
    x     = "General Score",
    y     = "Count"
    ) +
  theme_minimal()

IDD - Value-Added Indicator

IDD (Indicador de Diferenca entre os Desempenhos Observado e Esperado) measures the value added by an undergraduate course. It compares ENADE scores with the expected performance based on students’ ENEM admission scores.

Downloading IDD data

# Download IDD data
idd_2023 <- get_idd(year = 2023)

# Sample for exploration
idd_sample <- get_idd(year = 2023, n_max = 5000)

Available years

Data is available for 2014-2019 and 2021-2023 (no 2020 edition due to COVID).

Example analysis: Value-added by institution type

idd <- get_idd(2023)

glimpse(idd)

CPC - Preliminary Course Concept

CPC (Conceito Preliminar de Curso) is a quality indicator for undergraduate courses. It combines ENADE scores, IDD, faculty qualifications, pedagogical resources, and student perceptions.

CPC scores range from 1 to 5, where courses scoring 1 or 2 are considered unsatisfactory.

Downloading CPC data

# Download CPC data (Excel format, requires readxl)
cpc_2023 <- get_cpc(year = 2023)

# Sample for exploration
cpc_sample <- get_cpc(year = 2023, n_max = 5000)

Available years

Data is available for 2007-2019 and 2021-2023 (no 2020 edition).

Example analysis: Course quality distribution

cpc <- get_cpc(2023)

# Distribution of CPC scores
cpc |>
  filter(!is.na(cpc_faixa)) |>
  count(cpc_faixa) |>
  ggplot(aes(x = factor(cpc_faixa), y = n)) +
  geom_col(fill = "coral") +
  labs(
    title = "CPC 2023 - Course Quality Distribution",
    x     = "CPC Score (1-5)",
    y     = "Number of Courses"
    ) +
  theme_minimal()

IGC - General Courses Index

IGC (Indice Geral de Cursos) is a quality indicator for higher education institutions. It is calculated as a weighted average of CPC scores for undergraduate courses plus CAPES scores for graduate programs.

IGC scores range from 1 to 5, providing an overall quality measure for each institution.

Downloading IGC data

# Download IGC data (Excel format, requires readxl)
igc_2023 <- get_igc(year = 2023)

# Sample for exploration
igc_sample <- get_igc(year = 2023, n_max = 1000)

Available years

Data is available for 2007-2019 and 2021-2023 (no 2020 edition). Note: IGC 2007 comes as a 7z archive containing an Excel file.

Example analysis: Institution quality

igc <- get_igc(2023)

# Top institutions by continuous IGC
igc |>
  filter(!is.na(igc_continuo)) |>
  arrange(desc(igc_continuo)) |>
  head(20) |>
  ggplot(aes(x = reorder(sigla_ies, igc_continuo), y = igc_continuo)) +
  geom_col(fill = "darkblue") +
  coord_flip() +
  labs(
    title = "Top 20 Institutions by IGC (2023)",
    x     = NULL,
    y     = "IGC (Continuous)"
    ) +
  theme_minimal()

CAPES - Graduate Education Data

CAPES (Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior) provides open data on Brazilian graduate programs (stricto sensu: masters and doctoral programs).

Available data types

Type	Description
`"programas"`	Graduate programs (area, institution, CAPES score)
`"discentes"`	Students (enrollment, demographics, funding)
`"docentes"`	Faculty (qualifications, research output)
`"cursos"`	Graduate courses within programs
`"catalogo"`	Theses and dissertations catalog

Downloading CAPES data

# Graduate programs
programas_2023 <- get_capes(year = 2023, type = "programas")

# Students (large dataset!)
discentes_sample <- get_capes(year = 2023, type = "discentes", n_max = 10000)

# Theses and dissertations catalog
catalogo_2023 <- get_capes(year = 2023, type = "catalogo")

Available years

Data is available from 2013 to 2024. Data is retrieved from the CAPES Open Data Portal via CKAN API.

Example analysis: Graduate programs by knowledge area

programas <- get_capes(2023, type = "programas")

# Count programs by broad knowledge area
programas |>
  count(nm_grande_area_conhecimento, sort = TRUE) |>
  head(10) |>
  ggplot(aes(
    x = reorder(nm_grande_area_conhecimento, n),
    y = n
  )) +
  geom_col(fill = "purple4") +
  coord_flip() +
  labs(
    title = "Graduate Programs by Knowledge Area (2023)",
    x     = NULL,
    y     = "Number of Programs"
    ) +
  theme_minimal()

Combining quality indicators

CPC, IGC, IDD, and ENADE are closely related. Here is an example of how to combine them for a comprehensive view.

# Load CPC and IGC for the same year
cpc <- get_cpc(2023)
igc <- get_igc(2023)

# Compare institution-level quality
# IGC gives the overall institution score
# CPC gives individual course scores within each institution
igc_summary <- 
  igc |>
  filter(!is.na(igc_faixa)) |>
  select(codigo_ies, sigla_ies, igc_continuo, igc_faixa)

cpc_summary <- 
  cpc |>
  filter(!is.na(cpc_continuo)) |>
  group_by(codigo_ies) |>
  summarise(
    n_courses = n(),
    mean_cpc  = mean(cpc_continuo, na.rm = TRUE),
    .groups   = "drop"
    )

combined <- inner_join(igc_summary, cpc_summary, by = "codigo_ies")

ggplot(combined, aes(x = mean_cpc, y = igc_continuo, size = n_courses)) +
  geom_point(alpha = 0.4, color = "steelblue") +
  labs(
    title = "IGC vs Average CPC by Institution (2023)",
    x     = "Average CPC (Continuous)",
    y     = "IGC (Continuous)",
    size  = "Courses Evaluated"
    ) +
  theme_minimal()