When the Higher Interdisciplinary Training Program (ProFIS) was designed at Unicamp, many people from the university community questioned the viability of the initiative. A general education higher education course, aimed at students from public schools, which did not require an entrance exam and which would allow its graduates to enter any degree at the University, was something unprecedented in the country and came up against several pockets of resistance. Still, the initiative persisted and, twelve years later, it is a success, changing the lives of more than a thousand students from 101 public schools in the city of Campinas.
“Before ProFIS, 70% of public schools in Campinas had never placed a single student at Unicamp. It is a frightening fact”, reveals the former dean of Unicamp Marcelo Knobel, who was one of the creators of the Program when he held the position of Pro-Rector of Undergraduate Studies, during the administration of Fernando Ferreira Costa (2009-2013). “It was a very complex process, of convincing and discussion. I think we did a great job, and, in fact, what happened is that the institution wore the shirt. Today, teachers teach at ProFIS on a voluntary basis, often doubling their teaching load, and even so there is a line of teachers waiting to teach.”
Knobel's report was made during the VII ProFIS Scientific Exhibition, held on December 6th and 7th. As one of the main characteristics of the program is the encouragement of research activities, since 2016, ProFIS students have concluded their scientific initiation subjects with an exhibition, in which they present the results of research carried out in areas such as health, exact sciences, arts, humanities and biological. This year, the event was held in conjunction with the celebrations of more than ten years of the program, which completed a decade in 2020, when physical distancing measures resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic did not allow celebrations.
In addition to the poster session, the exhibition intended to present a “tour” through the history of ProFIS. Thus, over the two days of the meeting, debates were held with several people who were involved with the program, including its creators, coordinators, teachers and students. There was, for example, a table with the creators of the Program, who talked about how the initiative had been designed, from the beginning, as a general training course that did not require the entrance exam.
“I remember that, at that time, Unicamp was already applying a kind of correction, granting points to public school students and black students”, recalls former dean Fernando Costa, who had the original idea for the Program. “But this did not solve the problem of students who came from schools with less structure, as those chosen would be students from the best public schools. This system was unable to capture those schools that do not provide adequate training, but still have very good people. Therefore, we decided that all public schools in Campinas would be included.”
Since then, ProFIS has become a highly successful policy, which has allowed the University to open up to diversity and social inclusion. Among its main characteristics is the mandatory scientific initiation activity, with the granting of scholarships to students, and the completeness of the course, which allows students to make better use of the academic environment. As a result, in 2013 the Program won the Péter Murányi award, which recognizes the contribution of work that seeks to improve the lives of developing populations.
To give you an idea of the initiative's contribution, 70% of the ProFIS student body is made up of women and 40% are non-white people. This is an even more interesting picture when you realize that the table with the creators was made up of five white people, only one of whom was a woman. The person who made this observation was professor Renato Pedrosa, from the Geosciences Institute at Unicamp, who participated in the discussion with the creators, remembering that no other social inclusion program in Brazil has this characteristic.
For Pedrosa, who studies public policies related to higher education, part of the resistance in recent years in relation to university access initiatives is the fact that they are aimed at disadvantaged groups. He emphasizes that, in ten or twenty years, when Unicamp is proposing new affirmative action policies, it will be professionals like those who left ProFIS who will be at the table debating the issue. “The area of research in higher education and social inclusion is an important area of study and it may be that some of you will become interested in it. It is an area of science, research in sociology, education and politics”, he advises.
Objectives and Challenges
Currently, one of the main objectives of ProFIS coordination is its expansion, both in terms of the number of students benefiting and its implementation on the Limeira and Piracicaba campuses. This is also one of the biggest challenges of the course, as this objective depends on aspects such as greater funding and availability of undergraduate places for graduates. Furthermore, the Program also needs to become better known among the university community, as a large part of the internal public has never heard of this course or has a mistaken view of it.
According to coordinator Ana Elisa Assis, one of the criticisms that the course receives is the premise of two-year training and only then entry into the undergraduate course, which many people consider a waste of time. However, she argues, these two years are an achievement for the program and give students the opportunity to get to know Unicamp before choosing which path they want to follow. “This is something that we realize is lacking for students who enter directly through the entrance exam, because two years is a period to get used to it, get to know the institution and make a decision more in line with what they like and how they feel. closer.”
Assis points out that another great achievement of ProFIS is the commitment on the part of Unicamp's knowledge areas, both in terms of articulation between the disciplines offered, and in the availability of undergraduate places. “In this aspect, I must highlight the Faculty of Medical Sciences, because they are the group that has significantly expanded the number of places available, as a large part of our students are interested in this course”, observes the professor.
After completing the training course, the graduate can enroll in one of Unicamp's courses without having to take the entrance exam, respecting only the number of available places and the order of choice, which is determined by the students' performance coefficient. Between 2013 and 2020, 620 students enrolled in 63 different courses through this modality. Led by medicine, which increased the number of places available for ProFIS from five to ten, the courses with the greatest competition as a first option are economic sciences, civil engineering, computer engineering and speech therapy.
Student commitment
Being a teacher at ProFIS is both a great challenge and a huge learning experience. As it was a course aimed at graduates from all public schools in Campinas, some students had the opportunity to receive a quality education, while others spent their entire high school years without seeing a biology or history class. According to chemistry professor Gildo Girotto, this diversity is very complex, because teachers need to adapt the subject's teaching project to different educational levels, but it brings a very positive return, because students take advantage of the opportunity they have received and are very committed to the course.
Girotto has been a professor at ProFIS since 2018 and comments that, over this time, he has worked with very engaged students, who create a strong identity with the university and with each other. In addition to the students who enrolled in chemistry or chemical engineering courses, he works with three graduates on a scientific dissemination project and notes their dedication to the university. “They are IEL, Cursão and Medicine students, and it is really cool to see the different evolutions, the different paths they have taken throughout their careers. And you notice how participation in ProFIS generates proactivity, a degree of engagement with other projects at the university that is very interesting”, he praises.
This is the example of graduates Bruna Marconatto and Lucas Buscaratti, who participated, respectively, in the 2015 and 2016 ProFIS classes, and are studying Biological Sciences at Unicamp. During their time in the Program, they were part of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Directory (DCI) and, even after graduating, they continue to participate in the initiative through the organization of Scientific Exhibitions, as a way of contributing to other public school students also having access to she.
Buscaratti, for example, participated in the Task Force Against Covid-19, a Unicamp initiative to put its infrastructure and human resources at the service of society during the pandemic. For him, if it weren't for ProFIS, he would not have been able to enter the University and would not have had the opportunity to explore his full potential of helping people and doing science. “I wouldn't be here making a difference in so many fields, including biology, and changing the lives of these people, my family and future students too”, he argues.
Bruna agrees, commenting that the Program was responsible for expanding the way she sees the world. “I think I was a very limited person, because I grew up in a bubble and, thanks to Unicamp, I greatly increased my range of knowledge. ProFIS means a lot to me, and it's no surprise that I'm still here today, fighting for students and showing that ProFIS is a course that does serious science and that people should value it more", concludes the student.