INCLUSION POLICIES DEMAND ACTIONS TO PROMOTE STUDENTS’ SUPPORT FOR PERMANENCE – A PUBLIC MEDICAL SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

AUTORES: Joana Froés Bragança Bastos, Eliana Martorano Amaral, Ivan Toro, Mariana Nery,

PALAVRA-CHAVE: Affirmative actions, social vulnerability, medical students

RESUMO

QUAL PROBLEMA FOI ABORDADO?
Higher education in Brazil has undergone profound changes in the last 20y due to governmental affirmative action policies through quotas favoring Brazilian students from public high schools and minority groups. The University of Campinas (UNICAMP), a state-financed public university, has been a pioneer in offering a bonus system to include underprivileged students since 2006. In 2019, UNICAMP implemented specific race quotas to speed up the racial distribution aligned with the state population. The under-representation of the less privileged classes is even more prominent in highly prestigious public medical schools, which require the highest entrance exam scores for student admission. Then, it is crucial to guarantee the students’ support to avoid dropout.

O QUE FOI TENTADO?
This paper aims to describe UNICAMP’s strategy to promote permanence and support students with social vulnerability, focusing on the case of Medicine. This university has always offered a vast portfolio to support students in need, which has improved with tailored initiatives to promote students’ permanence since 2017. Currently, approximately half of the medical students are from affirmative action policies. These students can access "free-for-charge” meals and other scholarships, e.g., transport, installation aid, as well as social assistance support, and exchange assistance scholarship, complemented by a housing allowance grant or a spot on the College Housing. Also, there is ample access to Research Scholarships, Training scholarships, and Institutional Projects Assistance. More than 20% of the students benefit from social scholarships. Approximately two thousand had academic development and research incentive scholarships for the entire university. The use of these scholarships raised sharply after the bonus system was applied. Almost all medical students accepted by affirmative policies have scholarship support from the university with a minimal drop-out rate.

QUE LIÇÕES FORAM APRENDIDAS?
Diversity in the population with university degrees, especially medical students, can lead to social transformations and a more equal society. Affirmative action students are usually the first in their families to attend a university, showing the importance of these policies to social mobility. Nevertheless, promoting student permanence and lowering dropout rates for these students is critical.

ESTE TRABALHO FOI APROVADO PELO COMITÊ DE ÉTICA E PESQUISA (CEP)? Não se aplica


EIXO TEMÁTICO: EIXO 5 - Currículo, gestão, inovação e permanência