...After driving around for 45 minutes, we finally found the building we needed to get to. The president of the university, Fernando Costa, greeted us, which was a nice surprise, and gave a quick introduction to the school in general. Then we heard from Professor Renato Pedrosa who is the head of admissions at the university, as well as the design and issuance of the vestibular. The vestibular is a test that all candidates for university must take to be admitted to the university system in Brazil. It is similar in a way to the SATs in the United States, except that this test is the sole deciding factor of admittance into university. So all those clubs, sports and extracuricular activites that American students try to cram onto their resume mean absolutely nothing in Brazil.
I was surprised at how much UNICAMP does that is a bit radical compared to what we have heard so far. For instance, all students must declare their concentration before they even take the vestibular, but Renato thinks this is a horrible idea. He feels the students are too young to make a life decision like that, and what if they start the degree and 6 months into it decide it really isn't for them? They can't just change their major the way we do in the U.S. They have to test and apply all over again. No changing majors or transferring schools 2,3,4 times for them! There are also a lot of familial and social pressures forcing students to stay put. If you apply to the med school and are lucky enough to be accepted (it is a 90-1 chance), you are going to stick it out and become a doctor, whether you like it or not. Renato mentioned there are discussions going on about having a general education program, but at this point it is just theoretical. But in general, it was surprising to hear that a process that has been going on since the university system started is being questioned by the administration.
When looking at some of the charts shown to us, we noticed there was a spike in applications to the university in 2005 - this is when affirmative action programs started in Brazil. Rather than using quotas at UNICAMP, they have a more well rounded system of looking at diversity. In addition to the vestibular, admissions also looks at gender, race/skin color, family income, family education status (if their parents also when to university), the student's secondary education, and their participation in the affirmative action program (they check a box and select their racial preference if they want special consideration.) Basically point are added to their vestibular score. For example, +30 points if they are from a public school, +10 points for race (black, pardo (mixed) or indigenous), etc. Up until this point, I had assumed that most of the universities in Brazil were using a quota system, so it was nice to hear they had a more well rounded system of admissions.
Racial categories in Brazil are not as clear as in the United States, and there are many names for what can be construed as the same racial category. To clear up this confusion, UNICAMP uses the same racial categories as the census. Similar to the United States, whatever box you check, they take your word for it. They do not believe in the submission of pictures to verify racial status - a process we have heard is done at the University of Brasilia. UNICAMP believes that there is definitely potential for people from a low SES to do really well in university that cannot be detected by the vestibular, but they do not think quotas are the answer - quotas will cause too much controversy (similar to the racial descrimination lawsuits that have popped up in California and Michigan causing them to get rid of their affirmative action programs completely.)
After the presentation we went to lunch on campus and were joined by some of the professors and administrators. One sat at each table and we had the opportunity to have a more intimate conversation. Leonardo, a physics professor at UNICAMP, and who previously held Renato's role, was sitting at my table. One of the most surprising things said was that while he was visiting MIT, a predominately white school by United States standards, he saw even there that it was extremely diverse compared to UNICAMP, and that is when he knew that Brazil had a problem. It was interesting to hear that it took a trip to the United States for him to realize that Brazil is not truly a "Racial Democracy."
I had also asked if UNICAMP does any type of outreach or work with NGO's to bring in more diverse students and he said no, but that they do go to the public schools to give presentations, and basically say, "you can go to university too."
The best part of lunch was when we told Leonardo we were visiting EducAfro tomorrow. (EducAfro is a pretty extreme NGO focusing on the black movement within Brazil, specifically working to get more blacks into universities.) Leonardo rolled his eyes, and said, "Oh my god that guy HATES me!" Apparently EducAfro is very pro-quota and does not agree with the way UNICAMP works their affirmative action at all. Guess there will be drama tomorrow!!
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