BETWEEN EXPANSION AND DECLINE: THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE DROP IN ENEM REGISTRATIONS FROM 2017 TO 2021
Public Education. Access to Higher Education. Democratization.
In the context of the consolidation of affirmative action policies in public universities and the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the National High School Exam (ENEM), this dissertation analyzes the cycles of higher education expansion in Brazil, focusing on the recent decline in the number of applicants for the main pathway to public universities. Based on data from the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP) and the Ministry of Education (MEC), the research seeks to understand the underlying motivations for the changes in participation rates in the exam, situating this analysis within the framework of the second cycle of higher education democratization in the country. Adopting a historicalcritical approach, the study examines the role of ENEM as a public policy and its contribution to expanding access to higher education, highlighting its impact on the process of educational massification. Furthermore, it investigates the causes of the decline in registrations, assessing whether this trend signals a potential rupture in the cycle of enrollment expansion observed over the past two decades. This analysis contributes to the debate on the future of higher education democratization, contextualizing contemporary challenges and proposing reflections on the directions of educational policies in Brazil.