[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-217626-en":3,"doc-seo-217626-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},217626,8796093062539,"8796093062539","",8,"Research & Report","Effectiveness of Quota Policies Across STEM, Biological, and Humanities Programs - Research findings","We examine more than a decade of quota policy at Unesp, analyzing Physics, Biology, and Pedagogy as representative programs with distinct assessment styles. Quotas show little impact in Physics, where admission barriers are low, and in Pedagogy, where high pass rates hinder differentiation, while Biology exhibits systematic differences. Using Calculus I within STEM programs, open-competition entrants perform best, public-school students achieve intermediate results, and students admitted via racial quotas perform worst; performance gaps also sharpen by exam-grade bands. Statistical analysis further indicates that passing probability declines as attempts increase, suggesting initial educational gaps are difficult to overcome in higher education.","arXiv :2510 .08261v1 [physics .soc-ph] 9 Oct 2025  \nEffectiveness of Quota Policies Across STEM, Biological, and  \nHumanities Programs  \nR. D. Matheus, 1 E. M. Gennaro,2 and M. T. Yamashita 1  \n1 Institute for Theoretical Physics, S˜ao Paulo State University (Unesp), Rua Dr. Bento Teobaldo Ferraz, 271-Bloco II, 01140-070 S˜ao Paulo, SP, Brazil  \n2 Department of Aeronautical Engineering,  \nEngineering School, S˜ao Paulo State University (Unesp), Avenida Professora Isette Corrˆea Font˜o, S˜ao Jo˜ao da Boa Vista 13876-750, SP, Brazil  \n(Dated: October 10, 2025)  \nAbstract  \nWe examine more than a decade of quota policy at Unesp, analyzing Physics, Biology, and Pedagogy as representative programs of distinct assessment styles. Quotas show little impact in Physics, where the admission barrier is low, and in Pedagogy, where high pass rates make it difficult to differentiate students, but they reveal systematic differences in Biology. Focusing the analysis on Calculus I – an introductory course in Physics and other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs – for which much larger statistics are available, a clear hierarchy emerges: students admitted through open competition perform best, those from public schools achieve intermediate results, and students from racial quotas perform worst. When students are divided directly by the admittance exam grade, the performance difference is even clearer. Statistical analysis also shows that, contrary to expectation, the probability of passing decreases as the number of attempts increases, indicating that initial educational gaps are difficult to overcome within higher education.  \nI. INTRODUCTION  \nAffirmative action policies, especially quotas in higher education, have long been employed as instruments to promote social inclusion. Originating in the mid-20th century, it initially focused on racial groups and later expanding to encompass gender, socioeconomic status, and other forms of presumed disadvantage. The underlying rationale is that compensatory mechanisms should correct structural imbalances by ensuring that the composition of the student body reflects, to some extent, the demographic distribution of some elected groups in society.  \nParticularly in Brazil, the adoption of quota policies in public universities had its landmark in 2012, when Federal Quota Law mandated that federal institutions reserve a portion of their admissions for students from public schools, with subquotas for racial groups (Black, Brown and Indigenous people) . Considering the three public state universities at S˜ao Paulo, responsible for more than 1/3 of all research produced in Brazil, the first one to adopt such a policy was S˜ao Paulo State University (Unesp) in 2013, with the first cohort of quota students entering in 2014, followed by University of Campinas (Unicamp) and University of S˜ao Paulo (USP), both in 2017 .  \nDespite the clash between political rival groups for and against quotas, which is not related  \nto the scope of this article, there are still few direct analyses of the social efficiency of such policies or even on the academic performance of those benefited by them, comparing quota and non-quota students across different areas of knowledge (the Humanities, the Physical and Mathematical sciences, and the Biological sciences) . Some articles consider that achieving demographic proportionality of Black, Brown, and Indigenous students in universities could indicate the success of affirmative action policies [1–4] . However, this evaluation may be too narrow, as the long-term effectiveness of these policies must be assessed not only in terms of access, but also through outcomes such as academic performance and graduation rates, which necessarily precede successfully entering into the job market or continuing academic endeavors.  \nAffirmative action policies have been implemented in several countries, such as the United States, India, and South Africa, each with specific ","cbCairQ3xaoFiX6S","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairQ3xaoFiX6S","pdf",378885,1,20,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Affirmative action and quota policy rationale\n## Brazil’s quota law and Unesp implementation\n## Research gap in social efficiency and academic outcomes\n## Cross-country context and relevance of Unesp case study\n## Multicampus structure and study period\n## Field-of-knowledge distinctions and evaluation design","[{\"question\":\"How do quota policies affect academic outcomes in Physics, Biology, and Pedagogy at Unesp?\",\"answer\":\"The study finds little impact in Physics and Pedagogy, while Biology shows systematic differences between quota and non-quota students.\"},{\"question\":\"What hierarchy of performance emerges in STEM when focusing on Calculus I?\",\"answer\":\"Students admitted through open competition perform best, public-school students are intermediate, and students admitted through racial quotas perform worst.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the probability of passing change with the number of attempts?\",\"answer\":\"Contrary to expectation, the probability of passing decreases as the number of attempts increases, indicating that initial educational gaps are hard to overcome.\"}]","Effectiveness of Quota Policies Across STEM, Biological, and Humanities Programs - Research findings | PDF",1788835441,50,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":10,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"effectiveness-of-quota-policies-across-stem-biological-and-humanities-programs-research-findings",{"@graph":35,"@context":85},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/effectiveness-of-quota-policies-across-stem-biological-and-humanities-programs-research-findings/217626/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-11","2026-09-08",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"How do quota policies affect academic outcomes in Physics, Biology, and Pedagogy at Unesp?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The study finds little impact in Physics and Pedagogy, while Biology shows systematic differences between quota and non-quota students.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What hierarchy of performance emerges in STEM when focusing on Calculus I?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Students admitted through open competition perform best, public-school students are intermediate, and students admitted through racial quotas perform worst.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"How does the probability of passing change with the number of attempts?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Contrary to expectation, the probability of passing decreases as the number of attempts increases, indicating that initial educational gaps are hard to overcome.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,114,119,122,126,129,133],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":29,"slug":113},6,"Technology","technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":125},9,"Religion & Spirituality","religion-spirituality",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":128},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":132},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":136},19,"General","general"]