In recent years, the Brazilian government has adopted affirmative measures in the area of education seeking to promote equality and social inclusion of needy populations and, among them, the indigenous peoples. With the passing of the years and with advances in the implementation of the constitutional rights of the indigenous peoples, they have more and more sought for education, including higher learning which three or four years ago represented a very small demand. In this scenario, two universities stand out, the Universidade Católica Dom Bosco (UCDB), with the historical trajectory of the work of the salesians with indigenous peoples and the Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS), which as of 2003, instituted a policy of quotas and scholarships for this important segment in the State of South Mato Grosso. This study is inserted in this context presenting data relative to the situation of indigenous students in South Mato Grosso who are ready also to contribute to the debate on the future of the indigenous populations in higher learning with the understanding that it is the education recognized by them as one of the key elements for making viable their projects of autonomy and sustainability and the great challenge before the institutions of higher learning as to the construction of more symmetrical relationships and the promotion of an intercultural dialogue within their walls.
Indigenous peoples; Higher learning; Sustainability and interculturality
