Política de Cotas na UFTM: uma análise da evasão, desempenho e taxa de matrícula nos cursos de engenharia

Abstract

The quota policy effectively emerged in Brazil in 2010 at the National Education Conference, in 2010, but was only sanctioned in 2012 (Law nº 12.711) and regulated in the same year (Decree nº 7.824). Through this laws, the reservation of 50% of the total number of places per course at federal universities and institutes was guaranteed for students from public schools with a gross family income equal to or less than one minimum wage per capita and half for students from public schools, but with a family income greater than one and a half minimum wages. This group also includes the minimum percentage corresponding to the sum of mixed-race blacks and indigenous people in the state. The first federal university to implement the quota law was the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) long before the creation of the quota law. In 2001, UERJ made 50% of places available to public school students. At the Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro (UFTM), the implementation of the quota law took place in 2014. Thus, this study had the general objective of carrying out an analysis of students separated by the form of admission, the types of competition modalities and gender in terms of cut-off scores, the number of entrants, the yield coefficient and the dropout rate of undergraduate engineering courses at UFTM between 2014 and 2021 to understand how affirmative actions are being applied in these courses. The results obtained show that the cutoff score for Civil Engineering was the highest in the period in 2016 (716.00) and for Food Engineering the lowest in 2019 (666.00). Regarding the number of entrants, it was observed that entry through broad competition represents the majority for all courses evaluated and that the prevalent quota among entrants in the analyzed period was quota G04 (candidates who, regardless of income, have completed secondary education in public schools). Taking gender into account, it was observed that there was a prevalence of male entrants in most courses, only in Food Engineering and Chemical Engineering the number of female entrants was higher in the period studied. As for the students' performance coefficient, it was observed that the performance coefficients of students with broad competition are higher for all courses, but there is a great proximity to the coefficients of quota students in all the courses analyzed. And taking into account the dropout flow, it was observed that there are very specific situations, as some courses such as Food Engineering and Electrical Engineering have a greater dropout rate among students with broad competition. The Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering courses have a dropout rate of students with broad competition and similar quota students, with the G04 male quota being the most prevalent (candidates who, regardless of income, have completed secondary education in public schools). The Civil Engineering, Production Engineering and Chemical Engineering courses have a greater dropout rate of quota students, with the G03 quotas being male (self-declared black, brown or indigenous candidates who, regardless of income, have completed secondary education in schools public), G02 female (candidates with gross per capita family income equal to or less than 1.5 minimum wage who have completed high school in public schools) and male and G01 female (self-declared black, mixed race or indigenous candidates, with family income gross per capita equal to or less than 1.5 minimum wage and who have completed secondary education in public schools), respectively the prevailing quotas for these courses. There are many factors related to dropout in higher education, but the lack of minimum knowledge necessary to follow the subjects of engineering courses, especially in the initial periods, in which there are many Mathematics and Natural Sciences subjects, is probably one of the main factors. In addition to this, another factor that is probably linked to evasion in engineering courses at UFTM is the social vulnerability of students, given that for most courses the evasion of quota students involves students coming from families with gross per capita family income equal to or less than 1.5 minimum wage.