The University Council (Consu) of Unicamp approved, in a session held this Tuesday (26), two proposals for deliberation that establish pilot programs for reserving public positions for professors with doctorates, in the higher education career, for black and brown candidates (PP) and for people with disabilities (PCD). The deliberations will come into effect in the first semester of 2025 and extend to the hiring of professors the inclusion policies already undertaken by the University in the selection of its students, through the Entrance Exam and other means of entry and professionals in the Paepe career.
Before the discussion of the projects, the theme of inclusion had already been introduced at the opening of the session with a special appearance by Marcos da Costa, Secretary of State for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He thanked the counselors for Unicamp's partnership in causes aimed at people with disabilities, a group that represents approximately 3,2 million people, equivalent to 8% of the population of São Paulo.
Costa highlighted initiatives by São Paulo universities in projects that create research environments for people with disabilities, such as the application of artificial intelligence resources for people who are deaf or have low hearing. The secretary also announced an unprecedented initiative among São Paulo universities, which is the offering of a special course called “São Paulo Course on Accessibility and Inclusion”. It will be offered through the virtual environment of the Virtual University of the State of São Paulo (Univesp), with a workload of 80 hours, and will have 16 vacancies, 8 for each academic semester. The course will be aimed at students in the last semesters of São Paulo universities.
“With this course, we will introduce the culture of inclusion to undergraduate students at our universities,” reflected the secretary, who praised Unicamp’s work in promoting affirmative action for people with disabilities. “Our students of tomorrow will be professionals who will begin to change the reality of the job market.”
Rector Antonio Meirelles thanked Costa for his presence at the opening of the session and highlighted that the impact of the inclusion actions carried out by the University is the beginning of a significant change in the academic environment and in society. “We need to start a path of integration of people and it is up to us, who have been included for a long time, to be the bearers of this inclusion”, pointed out Meirelles.
The first program establishes the reservation of 24 positions for black and mixed race candidates, one for each Teaching, Research and Extension Unit of the University. The number is equivalent to 20% of the total of 120 vacancies distributed among the units for the opening of public competitions — also approved in the same session of the Consu. The percentage follows the determination of Law 12.990/2014, which reserves 20% of the vacancies in public competitions of the federal administration for black and mixed race candidates. According to the resolution, the vacancies will be made available in competitions open exclusively to PP candidates and must cover general subjects and/or areas of knowledge, ensuring the broad range of training of the candidates.
When registering, all candidates must make their ethnic-racial self-declaration, which will be evaluated by a hetero-identification panel. During the discussion of the proposal, the board members reached a consensus that this responsibility will be maintained by the Advisory Committee on Ethnic-Racial Diversity (CADER), an agency linked to the Executive Board of Human Rights that already has expertise in the work performed by the Verification Committee (CAVU) in the Unicamp Entrance Exam, in the selection of graduate programs and in the public examinations for the PAEPE career. “We have the advantage of offering and counting on specific training for the members of the committees, which gives quality to hetero-identification,” pointed out Silvia Santiago, Executive Director of Human Rights.
The implementation of the program will be assessed by a monitoring committee and its results will be discussed by the University Council after a two-year period. The decision will come into effect on May 1, 2025. The deadline is justified by the need to draft specific notices for the competitions. During the discussions, council members congratulated the University for its progress and expressed their hope that the policy will be extended to other sectors of the institution. “The inclusion process must continue and will need to have versions for other careers,” mentioned Rector Antonio Meirelles, giving the examples of careers for technical college professors and researchers.
The second program provides for the reservation of another 24 positions for people with disabilities (PWD), also one position per unit. The selection process must consider disabilities in accordance with federal legislation, such as the Statute for Persons with Disabilities (Law 13.146/2015), the National Policy for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Law 12.764/2012), among others. The requirements and procedures for the registration of candidates with disabilities will be defined in the notices opening the competitions.
In the case of these vacancies, candidates with disabilities will compete simultaneously for vacancies subject to general competition, and approval for one or another type of vacancy will occur according to the ranking in the public selection process. However, if a candidate with a disability is approved for general competition vacancies, he/she will not be considered for filling the vacancies reserved for people with disabilities. The resolution, which comes into effect on April 1, 2025, also establishes that all public selection processes for professors held by Unicamp from this date onwards must include vacancies reserved for candidates with disabilities, until all units fill the 24 vacancies defined.
In both cases, the implementation of the pilot programs will be evaluated by monitoring and evaluation committees, and the results will be discussed by the University Council after a period of two years from the publication of the deliberations.
