This article examines the progression of quota and non-quota students enrolled in 2005 at the university responsible for the first affirmative action in higher education in Brazil and the results were revealing. Regarding the grade point average, it was possible to notice a worse performance among the quota students. Furthermore, we show that the difference between non-quota and quota students is higher in courses with high relative difficulty and that this differential has not decreased significantly over the course. When we analyzed the graduation rates and dropout, we noticed a better performance among quota students. From the analysis of the entrants of 2005 we show that the quota students have higher graduation rates in 2009, 2010 and 2011. They also have smaller dropouts during the first year and in the remainder of the course. This research concludes that the quota students enrolled at UERJ usually highly value the course they have started. Thus, they remain at a higher proportion in university, despite having lower grade point averages.
Affirmative Action; Quotas; Progression; UERJ
