The Social Meaning of the Expansion of Higher Education to the Baixada Fluminense-RJ.
Key Words: Higher Education, Baixada Fluminense, Public Educational Policy
SOUZA, Renan Arjona de. The Social Meaning of the Expansion of Higher Education to the Baixada Fluminense-RJ. 2021. 259p. Thesis (Doctorate in Education, Contemporary Contexts and Popular Demands). Institute of Education / Multidisciplinary Institute, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica/Nova Iguaçu, RJ, 2021.
The general objective of this research is to analyze the profile of the face-to-face entrant in Institutions of Higher Education in the Baixada Fluminense-RJ between 2003 and 2018, seeking to evaluate whether the federal public policy for the expansion of higher education, which took place from 2003, in Brazil, influenced the access of candidates from Baixada Fluminense-RJ. To achieve this objective, the profile of the in-person entry at the 27 Units/Campus located in the region under analysis was investigated. It is a basic and qualitative research (GIL, 2019). The main categories of analysis – habitus, field, economic capital, cultural capital and social capital – are based on Pierre Bourdieu (2007; 2009). The theoretical-methodological articulation of this research is based on dialectical epistemology and bibliographic research and documental research were used in the data collection, with emphasis on the research in the database of the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP). In this way, we collected the necessary information for the adoption of an analytical posture of the information of the selected institutions for the study, within the proposed period. After linking the socioeconomic databases of candidates from the National Secondary Education Examination (ENEM) in three years (2009, 2013 and 2016), and from the Higher Education Census, these candidates were admitted to these institutions in subsequent years (2010, 2014 and 2017, respectively) we defined the newcomer's profile. During the period under study, there was the consolidation of an access profile for undergraduate students in the region, with greater participation of women and black people (blacks/browns). Likewise, the participation of a greater number of poor entrants in the areas of knowledge most encouraged by public policies for the expansion of higher education. We conclude that the expansion public policy adopted during the study period contributed to the access to higher education of a previously excluded population, but, we add, that there is an influence of the social position of the research subjects on admission to chosen undergraduate courses.