The data comes from a study conducted by Sou Ciência (Center for Studies Society, University, and Science), linked to Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo), based on data from the Higher Education Census conducted by the Ministry of Education.
In 2009, the first year there is information about the race/color of enrollees, federal universities had 135,121 students who self-declared as black and mixed-race. In 2022, the number jumped to 515,699.
The increased occupancy of vacancies by black and mixed-race individuals is a result of the Affirmative Action Law of 2012. Despite the increase, researchers point out that the percentage is still low compared to the size of the black population in the country. The latest IBGE Census showed that 55.5% of the population self-declares as black or mixed-race.