Thesis advisor: Philip G. Altbach / The literature on Latin American higher education indicates the existence of a relationship between socio-economic status and college enrollment. One of the hypotheses of this study was that in Haiti, socio-economic status is related not only to college access but also to students' ability to enter their preferred field of study. As a result, students from higher socio-economic status were expected to report higher levels of satisfaction with their academic situation. In this quantitative survey study, an instrument was developed and administered to 742 college students in 5 different Haitian institutions in order to determine whether there exists this hypothesized relationship between students' socio-economic status and their satisfaction with their academic situation. Data analysis revealed a weak, negative relationship between students' socio-economic status and their satisfaction with their academic situation. No significant relationship could be established between socio-economic status and access to a preferred field of study, across all students. Instead the study found what seems to be a paradox: although a majority of students were not able to access their desired field of study, they showed a high level of satisfaction with their academic situation. This paradox is explained by the importance of intrinsic factors as well as job prospect in predicting students' satisfaction. Other findings include (a) a low level of participation for women in Haitian higher education, (b) a lower level of satisfaction for Haitian female science, engineering, and technology students, and (c) little differentiation in academic preparation between science, engineering, and technology students and the rest of the sample. Based on the research findings, the study concludes with policy recommendations to help Haitian higher education achieve its economic development mission. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

The research approached the selective process used by the Brazilian Colleges in the admission of candidates to the higher education. The raising demand for vacancies in the public universities contributed to the exceeding competition in the college entrance exams, what rebounded in the way of high school conduction, that has acquired propaedeutic characteristics. The negative reflection about the objectives of this level of the teaching trigged off searches for the alternatives selective process, that could rescue and encourage the realization of the purposes originally offered to the high school. New proposals acquired impulse with the promulgation of the Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (LDB) nº 9394, in 12/20/1996, that extinguished the traditional college entrance exams exclusiveness as the selection s way. The Universidade Federal de Uberlândia implanted the Alternative Process to College Entrance PAIES, a process of evaluation in series, with exams aplicated in the end of the three series of high school. The candidates that reach the best general results in the three evaluations, since 1997, are selected to occupy 25% of the offered vacancies, yearly, by the higher courses of UFU; entering always in the first semester. While the traditional college entrance exams selects for the others 75% of the offered vacancies; that enter in both semesters. The aim of this work was to know the factor of predictive validate of these two selective processes, through the comparison of the academic performance of the student s groups of the Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (FOUFU) admitted by traditional college entrance exams and by Alternative Process to College Entrance (PAIES). The subjects of the research were the students of the 51º to 56º groups of the Odontology Course, examined in pre established periods of the course, by analysis of the official registers of notes and subjective evaluation of the students and the teachers, by the application of the questionnaire. The data, collected between 2002/2 and 2003/2, were treated statistically and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results allowed to conclude that the admitted students by Alternative Process to College Entrance (PAIES) presented best academic performance and best competence of learning during the graduation, and suggested that this selective process present level of factor of predictive validate higher then the traditional college entrance exams. / A pesquisa abordou os processos seletivos utilizados pelas Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) brasileiras na admissão de candidatos aos cursos de graduação. A crescente demanda por vagas nas Universidades Públicas contribuiu para a excessiva concorrência nos exames vestibulares, o que repercutiu na forma de condução do Ensino Médio, que assumiu funções meramente propedêuticas. Os reflexos negativos sobre os objetivos deste nível de ensino desencadearam buscas por processos seletivos alternativos, que pudessem resgatar e fomentar a concretização das metas originalmente propostas para o Ensino Secundário. Com a promulgação da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional nº 9394, em 20/12/1996, que extinguiu a exclusividade do vestibular como meio de seleção para o ingresso no Ensino Superior, novas propostas de processos seletivos têm sido implantadas e utilizadas pelas Instituições de Ensino. A Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) implantou o Programa Alternativo de Ingresso ao Ensino Superior (PAIES), processo de avaliação seriada com provas aplicadas ao final das três séries do Ensino Médio. Os candidatos que alcançam os melhores resultados gerais nas três avaliações, desde 1997, são selecionados para ocupar 25% das vagas oferecidas, anualmente, pelos cursos superiores da UFU, ingressando sempre no primeiro semestre. Por sua vez, o Processo Seletivo Semestral (VESTIBULAR) seleciona os candidatos para os demais 75% das vagas, que ingressam em ambos os semestres. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o Fator de Validade Preditiva1 desses dois processos seletivos, mediante a avaliação comparativa do desempenho acadêmico dos grupos de alunos da Faculdade de Odontologia da UFU admitidos via VESTIBULAR e via PAIES. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram os alunos das 51ª à 56ª turmas, investigados em períodos pré-estabelecidos do curso, mediante análise dos registros oficiais de notas e avaliações subjetivas docente e discente, via questionários. Os dados, coletados entre 2002/2 e 2003/2, foram analisados de forma qualitativa e quantitativa, e tratados estatisticamente. Os resultados permitiram concluir que os alunos ingressos via PAIES apresentaram melhor performance e maior competência de aprendizagem durante a graduação, e demonstraram que o Fator de Validade Preditiva do PAIES é superior ao do VESTIBULAR. / Mestre em Odontologia