Quotas for people with disabilities in higher education courses at Instituto Federal do Paraná (IFPR)

Abstract

The reservation of seats to people with disabilities in the admission processes of higher education institutions constitutes an affirmative action policy to guarantee access to this level of education. The Instituto Federal do Paraná (IFPR) matters in this context because it is a higher education institution and is under the Lei de Cotas (Quota Law), therefore, it reserves seats for people with disabilities. This article presents the results of a descriptive documental analysis on how positions were reserved in the admission call notice for the higher education seats at the IFPR between 2012 and 2019, with emphasis on quotas for people with disabilities, related to data found with institutional regulations and legislation on the subject. The analysis also enabled the observation of data referring to the expansion of the offer of higher education in the IFPR and its implications on the seats reserved for people with disabilities. The research showed that the reservation of vacancies for people with disabilities raised the concern of the IFPR from its first year of operation, in 2009, while  this policy’s implementation process was marked by advances and setbacks
in the analyzed period.