Social quotas, affirmative actions, and dropout in the Business field: empirical analysis in a Brazilian federal university

Abstract

Rawls' Justice Theory establishes that a fair society must allow less advantaged people to have access to the benefits of social cooperation. In this line of thought, the affirmative actions established by Law 12,711/2012 aim at promoting inclusive education in Higher Education. Evaluating the performance of affirmative actions, specifically their impact on the dropout level, has been a theme of debate in scientific literature. Besides representing a personal frustration, dropout is associated with significant academic, social, and economic losses. In this context, this research aims at analyzing whether the adoption of affirmative actions, as established by Law 12,711/2012, affects the dropout rates of students in Accounting Sciences and other courses in the Business field. The study was conducted through documentary research in a Brazilian public Higher Education institution (HEI). The results of binomial analysis showed that out of the 2,418 students who entered in the first semester of 2013, 520 (22%) dropped out from university until the end of the first semester of 2014. It was found that the dropout rate among entrants in the Business field, either through broad competition or using the system of quotas, was 29%. In the course of Accounting Sciences, the dropout rate among entrants admitted through broad competition was 25% and using the system of quotas it was 23%. Contrary to other investigations, this study found that there is no statistical difference between the dropout rates among entrants in the Business and Accounting Sciences fields through broad competition and quotas, suggesting that affirmative actions do not affect significantly the dropout rates.