Nível hierárquico e rede de influência dos centros regionais no interior do estado de Minas Gerais: uma proposta com base na oferta do ensino superior

Abstract

The Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education, promulgated in 1996, favored the expansion of the offer of higher education in Brazil. The growth of enrollments and Higher Education Institutions occurred in an accelerated, although regionally differentiated way. The objective of this study is to evaluate the spatial comprehensiveness and the role played by the regional centers in the offer of higher education in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais, analyzing the hierarchies and the breadth of networks of influence of the main regional centers. In order to identify the nuclei of the networks, the Centrality Regional Index (ICR) was proposed, composed of four dimensions: total enrollment by county; the number of courses offered per county; the absorption capacity of people with complete secondary education by county; and the attractiveness of students from other locations. The results allowed the identification of five county in the first hierarchical level, which are: Uberlândia, Juiz de Fora, Uberaba, Viçosa and Montes Claros. The network of influence of each one of these counties presented differentiated and diffuse spatial coverage. The hierarchy of centralities, mobility networks and areas of influence of the major centers reflect the different levels of regional integration and spatial flexibility.