The Vice-Rector for Graduate Studies at Unicamp, Claudia Morelli, It set a goal to institute affirmative action in 100% of the University's 84 graduate programs.During a work evaluation seminar, this Friday (13), in the auditorium of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, she reported that almost 90% of the programs already have consolidated affirmative action policies.
“We started late, but today 89% of our programs include some type of affirmative action, which is very positive. Now, by the end of this year, we want affirmative action in 100% of the programs,” said the vice-rector.
Since 2023, PRPG has had a Support Center for the Implementation and Evaluation of Affirmative Action Policies. The body offers guidance on regulations, rules, and procedures; promotes the dissemination of rules and notices; and assists in the implementation of actions. The core group is composed of three professors, in addition to representatives from the pro-rectorate, technicians, and students.
“We are now in the evaluation phase, checking whether the tools worked or not and where we need to improve. We know that (the program) is working, but we want to know where we can improve,” he explains.
Racial quotas
The first Black woman to assume the position of director of the Faculty of Education at Unicamp, Professor Débora Jefrey, recalled the history of the struggles for the rights of Black, mixed-race, and Indigenous students at the University. “There were many people who advocated for Unicamp to adopt only the PAAIS (Affirmative Action and Social Inclusion Program),” said Jefrey, referring to the 2004 policy that grants bonus points on the entrance exam to students who completed high school and/or elementary school in public schools. “Today we have an institutional apparatus. But this happened because of a strike 10 years ago. Thanks to that, we are here today. It took a long time, but it's good that it happened.”
The professor also recalled that the ethnic-racial quotas – approved in 2017 and which came into effect for the 2019 entrance exam – were only instituted as a result of intense mobilization by the student movement.
The director suggested that Unicamp create a specific body to deal with affirmative action. "Perhaps a pro-rectorate, a directorate, or even a secretariat," Jeffrey considered, noting that other Brazilian institutions already have this type of institutional arrangement.
The seminar also featured presentations by Professor Márcia Lima, from the University of São Paulo (USP), and Professor Rodrigo Ednilson de Jesus, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), and can be viewed in its entirety. here.
