Until 2022, PAPFE, the Student Retention and Support Program consisted of various aids (retention, meals, books, transportation) that were requested separately, with different periods of validity, making management difficult. These forms of assistance have now been unified.

Starting in 2023, the program operates as follows: students who do not use university housing receive a monthly grant of R$ 800 plus free access to university restaurants; those living in student housing on the different campuses receive R$ 300 and free access to university restaurants.

Furthermore, previously, the maximum duration for the aids was 24 months. It is now granted for the expected duration of the course, taking into account the time required for completion. Additionally, all students receiving Retention Aid are guaranteed free access to university restaurants, eliminating the need for separate meal assistance.

As part of the reformulation of PAPFE, a distinction was established between financial aid and scholarships. Students receiving aid are now eligible to apply for scholarships to enhance their academic development, such as the Unified Scholarship Program (PUB) for undergraduate research. This ensures that students with greater socioeconomic vulnerability are not excluded from opportunities to invest in their academic development.

Finally, the reform process—approved by the Council for Inclusion and Belonging and formalized in Resolution No. 8360 of December 22, 2022, and in GR Order No. 7862 of December 22, 2022—included participatory stages, such as a public hearing held on November 30, 2022. The new PAPFE has now been implemented.

The Council for Inclusion and Belonging approved, during its session held on August 4, 2022, the criteria for the operation of the Heteroidentification Committee in the Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular entrance exam and in the admission process through Sisu. The decision was formalized through Resolution CoIP No. 8287 of August 11, 2022, and Resolution CoIP No. 8323 of September 21, 2022.

The committee, implemented at the end of 2022, is composed of one faculty member, one technical-administrative staff member, one undergraduate student, and one graduate student, all appointed by the Coalition of Black Collectives of USP, as well as a representative from civil society. All members are expected to have proven experience in heteroidentification procedures or expertise in the field of racial equality.

The committee is responsible for verifying the self-declaration of candidates admitted through the reserved quota system for affirmative action policies for Black and Brown individuals, both in Fuvest and Sisu, based exclusively on phenotypic criteria.

USP has implemented reserved quotas for public school students and self-declared PPI (Black, Brown, and Indigenous) individuals in undergraduate programs since the 2016 admission cycle, when Sisu was introduced as an additional pathway for admission to the University, alongside Fuvest. In 2018, the University Council approved the expansion of reserved quotas for students from public schools. This policy includes a 37.5% quota for self-declared PPI students, a percentage equivalent to the proportion of these groups in the state of São Paulo, as determined by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

The Heteroidentification Committee aims to strengthen the consistency of the quota policy from the University’s perspective and to provide greater security for quota students, allowing them to pursue their academic paths without concerns about challenges or verification procedures.

The Mental Health and Well-being Directorate of the Office of the Provost for Inclusion and Belonging is in the process of consolidating a mental health network. To build this network, it has been undertaking the following activities:

• Engaging the USP community in the development of an integrated and participatory mental health policy at USP;
• Identifying and supporting existing initiatives aimed at promoting care, well-being, and mental health within the community;
• Involving different sectors of the University in the promotion of good practices in well-being and mental health, including students, faculty, and staff;
• Developing practices and policies focused on promoting mental health, with special attention to diversity and the most vulnerable groups, adopting an intersectional approach;
• Encouraging the university community to reflect on institutional cultures and practices perceived as authoritarian or exclusionary, and on behaviors that foster rivalry, excessive competitiveness, and aggression;
• Identifying and addressing aspects of institutional culture that require transformation, especially those related to authoritarian practices and potential discrimination or humiliation in institutional relationships;
• Incorporating listening practices that recognize sociopolitical forms of suffering related to class, gender, and ethnicity, emphasizing the transcultural dimension and the value of knowledge from diverse cultures.

ECOS PROGRAM

ECOS is a mental health program aimed at the USP community, with multiple areas of action:

• Listening, Support, and Guidance: ECOS provides a space for on-campus assistance at the São Paulo campus, offering in-person drop-in sessions for reflection and, when appropriate, referral to internal or external care networks. These sessions are conducted by the ECOS team, composed of healthcare professionals and student fellows from various fields who are engaged in research projects. The program does not provide emergency services. In cases of acute mental health crises, individuals should seek psychiatric emergency care.
• Care network coordination: The program continuously coordinates a mental health care network across USP campuses, mobilizing services and initiatives from the University, the public health system (SUS), other public policies, and civil society. Its goal is to ensure access to these resources for the university community and to provide a Mental Health Map of USP.
• Institutional support: The ECOS team provides institutional support to different groups, units, and campuses at USP, both in the creation of new mental health initiatives and in the strengthening of existing ones. In this way, the team addresses collective demands, aiming to enhance local actions and engage communities in promoting mental health within their respective contexts.

Student housing falls under the responsibility of the Campus Life Department, part of the Office of the Provost for Inclusion and Belonging, which supports students throughout their stay in the residential complex.

CRUSP is a complex of eight buildings, housing approximately 1,400 residents. Each apartment is shared by three students in buildings A to G, and by six students in building A1.

Reform processes are being discussed with the Committee for the Democratic Reform of CRUSP, and efforts are ongoing to regularize housing occupancy. The goal of this regularization is to promote a more stable and supportive living environment for USP students residing in CRUSP and to enable student retention policies to benefit a larger number of students.

In August 2022, a questionnaire with over 30 questions on inclusion and belonging at the University was released and distributed electronically. The questionnaire was aimed at all segments of the university community: students, technical-administrative staff, and faculty. Its purpose was to better understand the university community, its diversity, and its experiences and perceptions of different institutional environments at USP.

The results of the survey were widely disseminated, and the findings helped to inform proposals and policies aimed at strengthening inclusion and belonging at the University.

A second edition of the survey was conducted in 2024. The results were released the following year.