Democratization of access to Brazilian Higher Education: the evening program in Dentistry from the perspective of social justice

Abstract

This article analyzes the offer of enrollment in the evening program in Dentistry at a federal university as a tool for the democratization of Higher Education with social justice. It reports empirical research with freshmen and graduates of daytime and evening programs, using a questionnaire and consultation to microdata from the Higher Education Census in Brazil. The analysis involved frequency distribution and statistical test. The Dentistry evening program showed a different student profile than the daytime program: average age over 25 years; longer interval between high school and university admission; larger proportion of students who are the first in their families to reach Higher Education; and, mainly, more working students. The evening course has a smaller number of black and brown graduates and public school graduates than new entrants, which demonstrate the fragility of these groups in terms of permanence and completion of Higher Education. Therefore, a Dentistry evening program at a public university somehow contributes to social justice in Higher Education, even though it is still necessary to reduce social and educational inequalities.

Access to Higher Education; Faculty of Dentistry; Social Justice