The limits of Programa Universidade para Todos in the democratization of higher education: a policy analysis based on the academic perezhivanie of beneficiary students

Abstract

Programa Universidade para Todos (Prouni) is a public policy that aims to expand access to higher education in Brazil by granting full and partial scholarships to low-income students at private universities. Although it enables these students to access higher education, Prouni students face numerous challenges in completing their degrees, given the lack of measures designed to ensure that all Prouni students are able to continue their studies. This study sought to analyze the experiences of inclusion and exclusion of Prouni students and the challenges to the democratization of higher education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 Prouni students from a private university in southern Brazil. The participants’ discourses were analyzed using dialogic discourse analysis, based on Bakhtinian concepts. Results indicated challenges both of a socioeconomic nature, with Prouni students having difficulties in paying for housing, food, and transportation during their studies, and of a subjective nature, associated with the social position occupied by students as scholarship recipients in the privileged university social context. The social inequality experienced by Prouni students is reconfigured within the university, manifesting itself as symbolic, financial, and relational barriers that compromise their sense of belonging and continuation of their studies. It is imperative for Prouni and the educational institutions participating in the program to take responsibility for providing Prouni students with the necessary conditions to conclude their studies, effectively including these students in the university context and fulfilling Prouni’s social function of democratizing higher education.