Cotas na pós-graduação: a experiência da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Introduction: This article explores the challenges of implementing racial affirmative action policies in stricto sensu postgraduate education, focusing on the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) as a case study. In 2017, UFMG introduced an inclusion policy for Black people, Indigenous people, and individuals with disabilities. The implementation of this policy was largely managed by the postgraduate program boards in a bottom-up manner. Our goal is to address the following questions: i) What were the implementation patterns of this policy?; and ii) What obstacles did UFMG encounter in applying racial affirmative action policies? Materials and methods: We conducted a mixed-methods, descriptive case study based on two datasets. The first one was compiled through a document analysis of enrollment notices for 79 academic postgraduate programs at UFMG from 2018-2022. We estimated regressions to investigate the relationship between the percentage of reserved seats (the dependent variable) and attributes of the available seats. The second dataset consisted of semi-structured interviews with 18 individuals involved in developing or implementing the affirmative action policy. Results: We found that the percentage of reserved seats was most often at the minimum limit, potentially reinforcing certain types of stratification. Humanities programs tended to reserve a higher percentage of seats compared to more prestigious programs (Exact and Earth Sciences, Engineering, and Biological Sciences). The occupancy rate for reserved seats was extremely low: in 2022, only 21.1% for master's programs and 12.6% for doctoral programs. We identified ten possible reasons for this low occupancy, including a lack of identification with faculty and research areas, insufficient proficiency in foreign languages, and various forms of racism. Discussion: Although highly relevant, the affirmative action policy implemented at UFMG's postgraduate programs has not yet reached its full potential. Achieving racial inclusion in stricto sensu postgraduate education involves more than just reserving seats; it requires additional measures to enable admission and retention. Some of these measures can be addressed locally by the postgraduate programs, such as adjusting class schedules to better accommodate work commitments and being more receptive to new research interests (e.g., topics related to Black identity).