Federal universities approach racial quota deadline

Truthout 09 January 2016

In 2016, Brazil's prestigious federal universities will be required to confirm that 50% of their incoming students come from public schools. Furthermore, slots for self-identifying black, mixed-race and indigenous students must correspond to the proportion of the local population, writes Marlenee Blas Pedral for Truthout.

Implemented in accordance with Brazil's Lei de Cotas (Law of Social Quotas), these measures seek to ensure that Brazil's public universities reflect the country's diverse population. The implementation of these measures represents a big leap, but Brazil still faces many hurdles to making its higher education system more democratic.

More than half of the population in Brazil identified in the census as black or mixed race, yet only 10% of this group made it to university. In response to these high educational gaps, Brazil's congress voted in 2012 for a plan to implement the Lei de Cotas.
Full report on the Truthout site

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