Affirmative action policy in graduate studies: The case of public universities

Abstract

Brazilian graduate studies are marked by intense regional, ethnic-racial and economic inequalities, which led to the creation of affirmative action programs for students belonging to historically excluded groups. This paper analyses the process of creation of affirmative action in graduate courses (master’s and doctorate) from public universities. The database was made of the application guides published by 2,763 academic graduate programs in public universities, from January 2002 to January 2018. We found a significant diffusion of these policies in the last 4 years. As of January, 2018, 26.4% of the graduate programs had some kind of affirmative action program.