Política pública de assistência estudantil : uma análise a partir da percepção dos estudantes beneficiados da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Abstract

This research presents as main element the relationship between higher education and public educational policies of student assistance. In an attempt to approximate what is discussed on the subject in the specialized literature, and what actually occurs in an empirical reality, within a higher education institution, the research presents a specific case study whose main objective was to analyze the student assistance policy of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), based on the perception of the students benefited, trying to understand the conditions of permanence of these students in the university. The importance of this research is in the possibility of discussing the contribution of student assistance understanding it as part of educational policy. As for the methodology, a research was based on the quali-quanti method, integrating the qualitative and quantitative approaches, following complementary steps that aimed to contribute to the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data. The content analysis was used to analyze the data, based on the quantitative data obtained through the questionnaires and interviews directed to the beneficiary students. The data revealed that students understand politics as an aid, not as a right. Also, student assistance is a policy unknown to students. In addition, financial difficulty has proved to be the main obstacle to the academic life of students, who consider politics as essential for their stay, while at the same time revealing that student assistance promotes partial social inclusion. Thus, the analyzes allowed to conclude that, in the perception of the students benefited, the student assistance policy of UFRPE is a determining factor for their stay in the university, but consider that their academic needs have not been met.