State-run school students filling 50% of places in higher education

The Ministry of Education (MEC) reported that federal state-run education institutions have already begun to earmark half of their place offerings for students who earned their secondary diplomas from state-funded schools. The affirmative action policy was established by the Quota Act in 2012, which required that 50% of student enrollments for each program at 59 federal universities and 38 federal institutes of education, science and technology be reserved for applications from students who completed their secondary education entirely at state-run schools. Students who do not meet these requirements can apply for the remaining half of the total places offered.

In Brazil, tuition at public schools is free of charge, and the students from such schools are usually in lower-income families.

“Most institutions have already begun to implement the [quota] policy and the others will all have implemented it by the second half of 2016, which is the deadline established by the Quota Act,” says Education Minister Aloísio Mercadante. Overall country data shows that at federal universities, 50.6% of students come from state-run schools, with a very similar ratio found at federal institutes (50.5%).

Academic achievement

Regarding the students' performance, the Ministry of Education said it is gathering information from university surveys. At the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), for example, among quota students, 25.3% achieve average academic grades higher than 7 (the upper of three ranges set by the university). Among non-quota students, 24.4% achieve the same level.

“It is a win-win. For universities, it [the quota policy] changes their student demographics from single race/single class to ensure greater diversity,” the Dean of Undergraduate Students of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Penildon Silva Filho, notes. He said the universities' insight on quota student performance is wide-ranging, and the results vary depending on the subject area.

Federal institutes show similarly good results. According to the Chairman of the National Council of Federal Vocational, Scientific and Technological Education (CONIF), Belchior de Oliveira Rocha, there is a lag in the first year compared to students coming from private education. But this trend begins to recede through the second year, and towards the third year, it has disappeared. “In terms of results, public school students often outperform their private school counterparts,” he said.

Moreover, he noted, as federal education expanded into smaller, non-capital towns and cities, where there are often no private colleges, more public school students have succeeded in pursuing vocational and undergraduate degrees.

At some locations, 70% of the places are filled by students coming from public schools. “One thing I think has been a positive change is that students from different social and economic backgrounds are mixed together. This is very positive both for socializing and for learning exchange and knowledge sharing,” Rocha pointed out.

Experts noted, however, that the Quota Act has exposed a need for more student support, including meals, transport, and accommodation for students who often cannot afford their living expenses to get through college. “The student aid currently available is definitely better than it used to be ten years ago, but we need more. Inequality is still rampant in Brazil,” Silva Filho remarked about the situation at UFBA.

Translated by Mayra Borges