Profile and academic trajectory of indigenous students of University of Brasília

Abstract

The University of Brasília (UnB) was pioneer in offering specific vacancies to indigenous students. In 2004 it signed a Cooperation Agreement with the National Indian Foundation. This agreement established the creation of additional vacancies for indigenous students as well as an specific entrance exam for then. In 2012, with the enactment of the “quota law” (Law 12,711), the reservation of places in federal universities for black, mixed-race and indigenous people became mandatory. After 19 years of the Cooperation Agreement and 11 of the quota law, there are no studies that characterize these students and analyze their academic situation, which is the objective of the present study. To this end, a documentary and exploratory research was carried out in the UnB Graduation System (SIGRA), from which the following information regarding indigenous students who entered UnB between 2004 and 2013 was collected: age, sex, ethnicity, course, date of admission and academic status (active, evaded, graduated). A total of 108 indigenous students, with a mean age of 24.39 years, were identified. They are from all regions of the country and belong to 35 different ethnic groups. Of the total number of students, 26.9% completed the course by the end of this study and 43.5% dropped out. These data highlight the cultural diversity of the group of indigenous students and indicate higher dropout rates than in higher education in general. It is believed that the lack of specific mechanisms and spaces for welcoming and monitoring these students in the initial phase of implementing this policy has influenced their permanence at the University.