Academic performance of Medical students benefited by affirmative action

Abstract

Introduction: São Paulo State University (Unesp) implemented the quota system (affirmative action) for first-year students in 2014, through the vacancy reservation system for students from public schools. The main caveats regarding the quota system concern the difficulties these students have in adapting to the university academic environment, which could interfere with their performance during undergraduate school. Therefore, it is necessary to know about the performance of these students to propose viable alternatives for their needs. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the academic performance through the academic performance coefficient (APC) of undergraduate students of the medical course at the Botucatu School of Medicine - Unesp (BSM) according to the type of university admission process. Methods: the final APC of students who completed the medical course in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 were evaluated. The data were obtained from the Undergraduate Section of BSM. Comparisons were made of APC means between groups (universal admission - UA and affirmative action - AA). Results: In the period from 2019 to 2021, 252 students graduated, 184 from UA (73%) and 68 (27%) from AA. The general average of the APC was 8.41 + 0.61. The APC averages of the UA students were 8.45 + 0.61 and the AA averages were 8.31 + 0.60 (p = 0.414). Conclusion: The APC analysis of graduates over three years of the BSM medical course shows that the performance of those admitted through AA and by UA is similar