Institutional transformations and social characteristics of brazilian students in France

Abstract

This article, based on two qualitative studies, aims to describe the groups of Brazilian students in training in France in the 1980s and 90s. The analysis considers transformations in the institutional field and in the field of representations that affected this period. The article draws on three main aspects to characterize these changes: the place occupied by studies abroad in these students’ academic careers; their socio-demographic characteristics, more precisely their class origins and social position; and the types of courses and distribution in French territory.