Democratization and access to higher education through the Law 12.711/12: Londrina’s campus of the Federal University of Technology of Paraná (Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the admittance of students in Paraná’s Federal University of Technology (Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná) courses, Londrina’s Campus, in 2015, based on the changes introduced by  the  Quota  Law  (Federal  Law  12.711/12).  This  law  forced  federal  institutions  of  higher  and  technical  education  to  set  aside  places  for  public school, low-income, and self-declared black, brown or indigenous  students, which is a compensatory measure due to the effects of social privileges and inequalities in the access conditions to higher education. The procedure employed to assign spots in the aforementioned institution is investigated, in order to identify to what extent the affirmative actions have  fulfilled  its purpose.  Students'  admittance  scores  were  collected,  seeking  their  statistical  measures  of  centrality,  comparing  quota  and  non-quota students, and the different courses. Furthermore, it analyzes the relation between the spot reservation and its assignment in the four quota categories and the non-quota students group. It is also observed that a course’s prestige is relevant to raise the students' admittance score medians and that the low-income quota category imposed obstacles to the assignment of spots.