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ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION OF BRAZIL
Fernando Alcoforado *
The history of architecture and engineering in Brazil begins in 1549 with the founding
of the General Government and the city of Salvador by Thomé de Souza. The first
Governor General brought a group of professional builders with the order of King João
III to do "a fortress of stone and lime, and a great and strong ... as the best city it can
be". Engineering entered Brazil through two categories of professional activities:
official - engineers and the so-called masters of risk builders of civil and religious
buildings through whose activity the Brazilians then had ceiling, offices and temples.
The milestone key to higher education in Brazil was the arrival of the Portuguese royal
family to Brazil, in 1808, a fact that allowed the creation of several institutions. In 1810
was created the Royal Military Academy, from the premises of the Royal Academy of
Artillery, Fortification and Design, whose aim was to train officers of infantry, artillery,
engineering officers and geographers class engineers and surveyors, with the task of
direct administrative systems, mines, roads, ports, canals, bridges, fountains and
walkways .
Throughout the history of Brazilian engineering has been large number of engineers and
companies from various fields of activities, which have been highlighted by the
creativity and pioneering projects in the adopted and implemented solutions in the
works. From the time of installation of large steel from industrialization in the 1930s
during the Getúlio Vargas government, which changed the model and the possibilities
of national growth, the phase of the opening of roads penetrating, the construction of
Brasília, in action developmental of Juscelino Kubitschek and the construction of large
hydroelectric plants from the 1950s until the full field of technology for oil exploration
"off shore" in the 1990s, many national companies and many engineers helped to
modernize and develop Brazil.
Brazil is fully developed in different sectors of Engineering. From road construction to
the energy sector it is possible to be designed and built in Brazil. In some sectors,
including, Brazil is a world reference, such as those linked to Proálcool and Biodiesel
programs, oil exploration in deep sea waters, construction of large hydro as Itaipu, the
largest in operation until recently, designed, constructed and arranged by Brazilian
companies. Engineers and engineering companies collaborated decisively to trigger the
process of modernization of the country. Important role also had engineers as public
administrators who have wide vision and contributed to materialize bold infrastructure
projects in energy, transport and communications implemented in Brazil in the last 60
years. It ranked high, too, the pioneers in the manufacture of machinery and equipment,
and capital goods and input suppliers who helped to provide extraordinary boost to the
Brazilian Engineering and Construction. Engineering was therefore responsible for the
construction of modern Brazil.
Despite the enormous contribution of Brazilian engineering modernization of Brazil, it
needs to be strengthened further to contribute to the progress of the Country. A major
challenge for the Brazilian engineering with regard is to its contribution to the
participation of Brazil in the race for innovation globally. The Brazilian situation is
disadvantageous because, while the United States, for example, has 800 thousand
scientists working in research and development of which 81 % are in companies, 4 % in
government and 15 % in higher education institutions, Brazil has only 137 thousand

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scientists of which 65 % of researchers in universities, 27 % and 8 % in companies in
government. These figures show that, unlike the United States, the contribution of
companies in R & D in Brazil is very small.
Another aspect to consider is that it is ridiculous to talk of technological innovation in
Brazil with denationalized industry and with centers of decisions on production and
markets located outside, as is the case of Brazilian industry. All this explains why Brazil
remains one of the least innovative countries in the world. The denationalized industry
is crucial to Brazil that is a country that invests little in research, less than 1 % of its
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) factor, and while most industrialized countries is on
average level of 3 %. Brazil invests little in education, some 4.5 % of GDP, and while in
developed countries this figure may reach 7 % or more.
For the Brazilian Engineering elevate their level of contribution to the progress of
Brazil, it is necessary to improve the quality of education in the country that is very low.
According to the OECD Review 2010 - Programme for International Student
Assessment, PISA - Brazil is in 55th place among 65 countries analyzed. Brazil is
below Chile, Uruguay, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago. The two best places are
occupied by China and South Korea. Brazilian middle level students were below
average in reading, math and science. However, it is these disciplines that represent the
foundation for the formation of the engineer. The absorption of knowledge in current
engineering courses in Brazil is not efficient because the engineering schools absorb
much of the school students with failure in Portuguese, mathematics and science.
The current engineering courses in Brazil have an excessive number of specializations
in undergraduate, In Brazil, the engineering courses should be restructured in order to
form the basic engineer whose duties would be redefined by the Federal Council of
Engineering and Agronomy (CONFEA) and the Federal Council of engineering and
Agronomy (CREA), as well as the duties of masters and doctors according to their
specialization. It should also include experience in continuing education. Brazil needs
definitely equate the issue of education at all levels of education, the foundation of all
public policies, the main one, the one that can produce qualified citizens to participate
as protagonists of the process of Brazilian development. Hence the importance of
engineers as they summarize their training in the knowledge of what to do and how to
do, essential to the development of a modern industrial society.
Another major challenge of Brazilian engineering lies in the fact that there are
insufficient engineers in Brazil. According to the CONFEA, in Brazil there are 712,400
engineers. According to a study by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), to
meet the demand for engineers, it would be necessary to train 60,000 engineers per year
in Brazil. But what happens in Brazil is that only 48,000 get this diploma each year.
One of the causes of the failure of engineers in Brazil results, among other factors, the
withdrawal or avoidance of the students during the course which is very large reaching
60 %. The dropout happens in the first and second year mainly due to the poor in
mathematics and physics student in high school, in many cases, have difficulties to
follow the Engineering course.
Another cause of failure of engineers in Brazil lies in the fact that many of them do not
work in the profession. According to IPEA, in 2008, the number of graduates in
engineering was approximately 750 000 professionals, while the stock of formal jobs in
the typical occupations of these workers was 211,700. In other words, for every two
engineering graduates working with a formal contract in typical occupations of their

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training, there is another five in the following situations: performing other occupations,
unemployed, performing activities as self-employed professionals working in other
countries or simply out labor market.
According to the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), Brazil would need 150,000
more engineers by the end of 2012 because of investments in energy, infrastructure and
the discovery of pre -salt industry. One of the areas most in need of professionals is the
oil and gas. The IPEA estimates that in 2015, 1.155 million engineers will be needed if
the growth of GDP is 5 % per year. And with growth of 7 % per year, 1.462 million
engineers will be needed. The projection for 2022 indicates the need for 1.565 million
engineers in typical occupations.
Besides the shortage of engineers, Brazil form over 77 % of engineers in just four
specialties: Industrial Technician (339,822, or 33.87% of total), civil engineering
(201,290, 20.06%), electrical engineering (122 066, 12.16%) and mechanical and
metallurgy (109 788, 10.94 %) engineer. With concentration in a few specialties, the
market is even more lacking in other niches. The Institute of Applied Economic
Research (IPEA) predicted that Brazil needs, especially mining engineers, oil and gas,
marine and computing.
Unfortunately, Brazil is still essentially a country of low economic growth, low
educational level of the workforce (eight years of schooling on average) and small-scale
production of innovation compared to other industrialized or newly industrialized
countries. Although Brazil have capacity to extract oil from deep waters, produce ships
and aircraft, it is still insufficient for the size of the social and economic needs of our
population. To develop, Brazil should not abandon the his engineering and, with the
best use of this to leverage its economic and social progress and avoid eternal
technological dependence on the outside.
*
Alcoforado, Fernando, engineer and doctor of Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the
University of Barcelona, a university professor and consultant in strategic planning, business planning,
regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo,
1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do
desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,
http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel,
São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era
Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora,
Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global
(Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011) and Os Fatores Condicionantes do
Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), among others.