A decade of affirmative action in Brazilian higher education: Impact, scope and future

Abstract

A decade after Brazil adopted the first quotas in university admissions, the country has among the most extensive affirmative action policies in the world. The measures form part of broader efforts by successive left-leaning governments to combat deep-rooted socioeconomic and racial inequalities by democratizing access to higher education. However, the policies have been highly controversial, triggering a raft of court battles and scores of scholarly studies, which seek to address both the pertinence and the impact of the measures. In this paper, I review some of the most significant studies conducted over the past decade, in order to take stock of the impact and scope of the policies in Brazil, as well as to identify possible lessons for the global debate over affirmative action.