RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In 2018, for the first time, black students (black or mulatto) constituted a majority – 50.3 percent – of all students enrolled in Brazil’s public higher education institutions.
The data is included in the Social Inequalities by Color or Race study, released on Wednesday, November 13th, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The mark was achieved despite the lower secondary and higher education completion rates recorded among blacks.
However, blacks were still under-represented in public higher education, as they are the majority of the population (55.9 percent). The data corroborate the existing measures that broaden and democratize access to the public higher education network, observed IBGE.
The institute mentions the institutionalization of the quota system in the public network, that holds openings for candidates of several population groups, among other measures adopted since the 2000s with the goal of broadening and democratizing access to higher education.
Private network
Blacks and mulattos still remain a minority in higher education courses in the private education network in 2018. They were 46.6 percent of the total.
Source: Estadão