The study had as objective to know the social representations of university students on the system of reserving space based on racial and social criteria in the university. Seven students participated from diverse fields of study at UFBA, of both sexes, with age group ranging from 19 to 49 years of age, where two of them benefited from quotas. The focus group technique was used having the initial question "What do you think about the university quota system?", and a questionnaire for socioeconomic data. The data was transcribed and a non-quantitative, thematic content analysis was made. The results indicate a contradictory and ambivalent discourse (contrary, favorable and at times ambivalent), on the other hand, as for living together with quota students there was a tendency to perceive them as stereotyped, and therefore, homogenous. Hopefully, this study will contribute toward a better understanding of the phenomenon and make possible new studies and reflections about the social representations of quota politics.
Social representations; university quotas; quota