Student access and permanence at the Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul - Campus Realeza/Paraná/Brazil

In the last years, it have been seen the expansion of higher education in Brazil, either through creation and amplification of universities and federal institutes or by the encouragement and funding scholarship in private institutions. With that, the number of vacancies increased significantly, permitting that more Brazilians have access to higher education. Furthermore, some changes in the legislation allowed the opening of vacancies for students from the most popular level of the society, which are historically excluded from the elitist model of Brazilian public higher education. In this context, to amplify the access is essential for higher education democratization, although there are other challenges arising in order to assure the inclusion of this popular public. It’s in that debate that we intend to contribute by presenting the results of the research carried out on the campus of the Federal University of Fronteira Sul, located in the interior of Paraná - Brazil.

Keywords:
Higher education; Access and permanence; Student assistance