Affirmative action under the Graduate Program in Education at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This article examines the affirmative action by the Graduate Program in Education at the Universidade Federal Federal do Rio Grande do Sul to encourage students who are Black, Quilombola, Indigenous, Deaf, Transvestite, Transexual or with a disability to enter and remain at the university. As well as organizing and arranging this information, it also examines how the process has been implemented between 2017 and 2022 and analyzes the views of the first group to join the master’s degree program, who answered an online questionnaire of questions on admission, studies, and leaving. The main objective was to show what has constituted affirmative action, taking into account the admission processes, their studies, and the impact that graduation has had on the first entrants. The methodological approach is based on analyzing the documents and the organized data from the survey on affirmative action for the PPGEDU/UFRGS. In particular, the aim was to identify and analyze the data, information, and ideas to assess the effectiveness of these actions and establish a policy on affirmative action that can make a difference and create a more diverse and equitable university. This would ensure academic excellence in fact and in law as well as challenge inherent racism in the structure and the coloniality of power and knowledge.