Metamorphoses of a university: USP students between 2000 and 2020

Abstract

Following the end of the authoritarian regime and the increase in elementary and secondary education in the 1990s, there was a rise in demands for broader access to higher education and for public universities to become more inclusive to historically underrepresented groups. This article explores how USP responded to them by discussing the expansion of recruitment and the adoption of affirmative actions and retention policies. Furthermore, we examine the changes in the composition of the student body. Our analysis highlights the gains, contradictions, and asymmetries that have emerged during this university’s recent democratization process.

Keywords
Educational inequalities; Public higher education; Democratization of higher education; Affirmative actions; University of São Paulo