Carlos Decotelli

In his 2008 Master's dissertation on Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), Decotelli seemingly copied excerpts of a CVM (Securities and Exchange Commission, Portuguese: Comissão de Valores Mobiliários) report, without citing it, or mentioning it in the bibliography.[8] Further, there were also copied sections from a 1999 book[9] and, although the book is still mentioned in the bibliography, the copied sections weren't quoted as to indicate they weren't Decotelli's own words.[8]

FGV said there would be an investigation to determine if there was plagiarism or not.[10]

In response, Decotelli said the following:[11]

At the time of nomination, the president Bolsonaro presented Decotelli by the title of Doctor by the National University of Rosario, in Argentina, information publicly denied by the dean of the institution. On the same day, the press office of the Ministry of Education published the minister's diploma and stated that he completed all doctoral credits.

On 26 June 2020, Franco Bartolacci, dean of the National University of Rosario, issued a public statement on behalf of the university saying: "We see the need to clarify that Carlos Alberto Decotelli did not obtain his Doctorate title at National University of Rosario, Decotelli did not complete his doctorate degree". The dean of the university informed that Decotelli had his doctoral thesis disapproved, and the certificate of completion of credits presented by the Ministry of Education was not enough to grant him a Doctorate Degree or Doctor title by the University.[12] After the repercussion, the Decotelli removed the mention of the thesis and the name of his course's advisor from his curriculum. [13]

The new Minister of Education, Carlos Alberto Decotelli, did not obtain a postdoctoral certificate from the University of Wuppertal, in western Germany, as disclosed on 26 June 2020 by the Brazilian Ministry of Education.

On 29 June 2020 the University of Wuppertal informed in a note sent to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, that Decotelli conducted research at the university for a period of three months in 2016, but did not complete any postdoctoral program, which, in Germany, lasts two to four years - "Carlos Decotelli did not obtain a degree at our university," said Jasmine Ait-Djoudi, communication officer for Bergische Universität Wuppertal (BUW). The German university offers about 110 courses in various fields and has more than 22,000 students.[14]