LABOR MARKET AND CURRICULUM: PROFILE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES STUDENTS AND THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS AT UNICAMP'S INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY AND HUMAN SCIENCES

Abstract

Brazilian job market for social sciences has undergone significant changes in the last decade, especially regarding the High School Reform, the emergence of new professions and the decline of investments on science and education from 2013 to 2022. The possibilities for social scientists to enter the job market are quite varied, but there is still a curriculum that very much steers towards training basic education teachers and academic researchers in undergraduate courses. In my master's research on new entrants to the Social Sciences program at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), I was interested not only in getting to know the students, but also in achieving a deeper understanding of the course curriculum and how the shifts in the subjects offered over the last ten years have been expressed. In order to carry out this work, I analyzed the course syllabuses available on the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) website from 2013 to 2023, as well as the data released annually by the Permanent Commission for the Entrance Examination (COMVEST) on those enrolled in the Unicamp entrance exam. Based on the analysis, it was possible to see that IFCH offers many elective courses every semester, mainly focused on theoretical content and, even in the cases of more practical subjects, more specifically focused on academic production. There is not a significant number of electives aimed at a broader job market outside the university.