Social Effects of University Expansion and Affirmative Action in Public Higher Education in Brazil: A View from the State of São Paulo

Abstract

With just a small proportion of the population holding a college degree, the material and symbolic advantages of higher education are quite substantive in Brazil. In the last decade, social demand led to the expansion of public universities and the adoption of affirmative actions. Using data from four public universities in the state of São Paulo, the paper shows an increase in the numbers of students from lower-income and less educated families. Their relative inclusion, however, has reproduced the traditional social segmentation in Brazilian higher education, keeping access to prestigious majors more difficult to those with fewer resources.

Citation

Almeida, A.M.F. and Ernica, M. (2015), "Social Effects of University Expansion and Affirmative Action in Public Higher Education in Brazil: A View from the State of São Paulo", Mitigating Inequality: Higher Education Research, Policy, and Practice in an Era of Massification and Stratification (Advances in Education in Diverse Communities, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 149-167. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-358X20150000011010