Digital Inclusion Assistance at UFSM: who were the beneficiaries of this policy?

Abstract

Among the actions outlined in the National Student Assistance Program (Decree 7,234/2010), digital inclusion is included. The students' demand for digital inclusion gained greater visibility in practice only in the face of the emergency related to the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when educational systems transitioned to online formats. This work aims to reflect on student assistance and digital inclusion, providing a brief characterization of students benefiting from digital inclusion grants related to the Student Assistance Program at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). It represents a segment of results from a study associated with the Graduate Program in Public Policies and Educational Management at UFSM and is methodologically characterized as a qualitative, descriptive research. It is concluded that at the Federal University of Santa Maria, the profile of students accessing digital inclusion grants aligns with previous research on Student Assistance, with the majority of beneficiaries being female students, white, black, or brown, aged 15 to 24, enrolled in courses in the applied social sciences.  

Keywords: student assistance; digital inclusion; retention in higher education; student profile.