Ações afirmativas para acesso à pós-graduação stricto sensu: subsídios para normatização em universidades públicas federais do Brasil

Abstract

Affirmative actions are specific public policies that aim to repair historical inequalities before certain groups. Differently from what happens in graduation, there is still no federal legislation that regulates affirmative actions for postgraduate studies. According to a survey carried out at federal universities in Brazil, by April 2023, 24 institutions had not yet instituted their own affirmative action policies for access to postgraduate studies, through institutional resolutions. Affirmative actions in postgraduate studies favor equity by guaranteeing access to quality education, possible socioeconomic mobility and repairing historical inequalities for minority groups; as well as pluralism, by favoring the diversity of opinions and safeguarding each social group the possibility of submitting legitimate demands to state power. Therefore, this dissertation sought to answer how current initiatives and institutional dialogue processes can favor the construction of an affirmative action policy for student access to stricto sensu postgraduate courses in Brazilian federal universities. For this, a qualitative and exploratory research was carried out, through documentary research in 19 institutional resolutions of federal universities that already have such approved policy. In addition, 07 interviews were conducted with actors who participated in the institutional dialogue for the construction of this policy in one of the federal universities. It was concluded that current organizational initiatives can favor the construction of the policy by revealing how each institution established premises and rules for access to postgraduate studies. The analysis of the set of strategies makes it possible to identify those most favorable to equity and pluralism. At the same time, institutional dialogue processes, when known, point to activities that are indispensable for the elaboration, appreciation and democratic approval of future regulations. Previous reflection on alternatives, limitations and challenges tends to favor the legitimacy of the process. Thus, it was possible to propose a guide document that can favor the construction of this type of policy in federal universities that still do not have it.