Race‐based affirmative action for higher education in Brazil: Impact assessment on performance, time, and delay in completion*

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Priscila S. Santos,Kalinca L. Becker,Sibele V. Oliveira
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12923

REGULAR ARTICLE

Race-based affirmative action for higher

education in Brazil: Impact assessment on

performance, time, and delay in completion*

Priscila S. dos Santos

1

| Kalinca L. Becker

2

|

Sibele V. de Oliveira

2

1

University of S˜

ao Paulo, S˜

ao Paulo,

Brazil

2

Federal University of Santa Maria,

Santa Maria, Brazil

Correspondence

Priscila S. dos Santos, University of

S˜

ao Paulo, S˜

ao Paulo, Brazil.

Email: soarespriscila@usp.br

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the impact of race-based

affirmative action for higher education in Brazil,

through the effects of applying under a quota versus

the open system for Black, Brown, and Indigenous peo-

ple, on academic performance, time, and delay in com-

pletion. The data used were obtained by the survey of

the National Student Performance Examination

(Enade) from 2016 to 2018. Through the propensity

score matching methodologies, entropy balancing,

empirical quantile regression strategy, and Lewbel

method, a small statistically significant negative impact

on students' performance was observed. Significant

effects on time and delay in completion were not found

in most of the estimators used. We also observed that

older students and students who are male, lack, or

Indigenous are more likely to choose to enter via racial

quotas, while students who live with their parents or

spouse and students who have some source of income

are less likely to participate in the policy.

KEYWORDS

Brazil, higher education, racial quotas

*This study was financed in part by the Coordenaç˜

ao de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior –Brazil

(CAPES).

Received: 18 July 2021 Revised: 9 July 2022 Accepted: 21 July 2022

DOI: 10.1111/rode.12923

Rev Dev Econ. 2023;27:247–267. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rode © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 247

1|INTRODUCTION

Affirmative action for admission to higher education is a common practice around the world,

and its importance for the inclusion of minority groups in higher education is a research subject

in different countries, such as the United States, Brazil, and India. In the United States, affirma-

tive action for higher education was based on increasing the presence of minority groups. In

India there are some affirmative action policies in education: quotas in higher education institu-

tions, free secondary schooling, scholarships, specific schools, hostels, and free midday meals,

and there are three categories of castes that receive affirmative action (Cassan, 2019;

Oliven, 2007; Orlans, 1992).

Race-based affirmative action is the subject of discussions that can have strong social and

economic implications. If on the one hand it is argued that these measures would be necessary

for a historical reparation of social injustices (Francis & Tannuri-Pianto, 2012; Kane, 1998), on

the other, its efficiency is disputed to the extent that students admitted through the quota sys-

tem would not be able to reduce the schooling gap, which could even compromise the quality

of education (Sowell, 2004).

In Brazil, higher education is characterized by asymmetries in access and permanence,

which reflect the socioeconomic inequalities existing in Brazilian society. For example,

according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the propor-

tion of 18- to 24-year-olds of white color or race who were attending or had already completed

higher education in 2018 was 36.1%, while the same proportion of the Black population was

only 18.3% (IBGE, 2019). The IBGE defines the Black population as those self-declared Black

and Brown/mixed. This is also the classification used in this paper.

Aiming to reduce social inequalities in access to this level of education, the mandatory

implementation of the quota system for admission into higher education came about through

Law No. 12,711 from August 29, 2012, which provides for admission into federal universities

and federal educational institutions (BRASIL, 2012). From this moment on, all federal higher

education institutions (HEIs) should maintain the reservation of seats for the different pre-

defined criteria.

Admission to higher education by affirmative action in Brazil is part of a system with differ-

ent modalities, which includes the following types: public school students, public school stu-

dents with a family income of up to 1.5 times minimum wage, self-declared Black, Brown, or

Indigenous public school students, and self-declared Black public school students and Brown or

Indigenous people who have a family income of up to 1.5 minimum wages. As long as the

criteria are met, students can choose to compete for admission via some form of affirmative

action or through broad competition.

In Brazil, race-based affirmative action aims to oppose a history of social injustice that has

been present throughout the entire educational trajectory of non-white students. Becker and

Arends-Kuenning (2019) show that Black, Brown, and Indigenous students perform worse than

white students in the subjects of Portuguese and mathematics in the Basic Education Assess-

ment System (Saeb), with Black students having the lowest average among the three groups.

These results are related to both observable characteristics of students and unobservable charac-

teristics such as discrimination and stereotyping. As this problem can follow non-white students

throughout their lives, this study will investigate the impact on academic performance, specifi-

cally the racial modality of affirmative action for admission to higher education.

In addition, since the quota's implementation in Brazil, the policy has been the subject to

divided opinions (Bailey & Peria, 2010). There is criticism about a possible decrease in the

248 dos SANTOS ET AL.