With reference to educational policies in the globalization process, the purpose of this article is to show the status of higher Music Teacher Education Programs in Brazil after the enactment of the "Directives and Bases Act No. 9.394", in 1996. This law emphasizes the evaluation process for higher education, including teaching quality and accreditation of institutions, programs and majors as a resource. In this study, the quality parameters are shown from the perspective of the terms of reference of the institutions (i.e., the vision, mission, objectives, values and commitment), characteristic of the curriculum programs, students and team of teachers. A questionnaire has been used for the data collection, completed by the program coordinators. The results show the inequality of the higher education system, from the administrative and academic organization to the teachers' education and/or participation of the students in the academic life, indicating recent changes that meet the national and international educational policies, and the need for studies that may contribute to the improvement of Music Teacher Education Programs. (Contains 14 notes, 4 tables, and 20 figures.)