Brazilian admission quotas ‘successful but not enough alone’

Comparison of national test results data shows pupils admitted to university under racial quotas graduate with the same scores on average as non-quota peers

The first nationwide analysis of Brazil’s university admissions quotas has found strong levels of achievement among some students admitted under the scheme but warns that attainment gaps cannot be closed by affirmative action alone.

National admission quotas were first introduced in the South American country in 1999 and, since 2012, all of Brazil’s public and private higher education institutions have been required to reservehalf their places for public school students. Racial quotas also apply, with the minimum requirements varying by state.

An analysis published in The Economic Journal, conducted by Claudia Bueno Rocha-Vidigal of the University of Minnesota, examined 465,872 test scores to judge the impact of quotas on attainment in Brazil’s universities. The test in question was the National Examination of Student Performance, which is taken by all students in the first and final years of their degrees.

Controlling for a range of characteristics including gender, income and type of university, Dr Rocha-Vidigal finds that there is “no statistically significant difference” in academic performance between students admitted under the racial quota and under non-quota admission arrangements.

Scores for students admitted under the low-income quota were 14 per cent lower, on average, than those achieved by non-quota students with similar characteristics. When the analysis focused on public universities, which are typically of higher quality than Brazil’s private institutions, the gap was 25 per cent.

However, Dr Rocha-Vidigal notes that students admitted under the low-income quota typically entered university with lower scores on their admissions exams.

“In essence, both types of quotas are beneficial as they provide disadvantaged students with college education they would not usually have,” Dr Rocha-Vidigal told Times Higher Education.