Ações afirmativas na universidade estadual de Feira de Santana-UEFS: permanência das (os) estudantes cotistas no ensino superior

Abstract

Over the last years, the debate about the implementation of affirmative actions has been intensified in the Universities of Brazil, by bringing up the issue on whether adoption of such policies would cause the racialization of the country, which criteria would be used to identify its beneficiaries, which impacts on the quality of Higher Education and the difficulties faced by minorities, regarding their permanence in the institution until the completion of the degree. This study aims to analyze the policy of affirmative actions in State University of Feira de Santana-UEFS, in Bahia. Thus, we intend to identify the impacts on the access and permanence of those minorities, i.e., the student assistance policy for the minorities permanance in Higher Education, focusing on UEFS as a field of study. In Brazil, the law 12.711/12 sanctions the quota system at the Federal Universities, reserving half of the vacancies of those institutions for black students, African-Brazilians and (those) who have fully attended Public High School. UEFS has adopted the quota system since 2007. The study presented here is based on an empirical research. In order to carry it out, a comprehensive literature review was necessary, accompanied by field research. It is also characterized by a participant observation. For data collection, written records have been used, mostly documents, in addition to those, structured and semi-structured interviews. These changes in the Higher Education system in the country show the relevance of this research, despite the advances, it is known that quotas are far from being the solution to socially vulnerable groups insertion, such as ethnic and racial minorities, however, its implementation becomes an instrument of democratization and search for equality, especially in historically built for the elite: the Universities in Brazil.