O Programa Universidade para todos (PROUNI): desafios e impasses para a democratização do ensino superior no município de Imperatriz - MA

Abstract

Since the 1990s, there has been a change in the organizational structure of Higher Education under the influence of international organizations that reorient the practice of public policies and a new model of Higher Education. In this context, the present work has the objective of analyzing the forms of social and educational contribution, from the institutionalization of ProUni, taking into account the contradictions arising from the historical and political aspects of Higher Education, with emphasis on the role of the State in the adoption of public policies related to the process of democratization of Higher Education at the undergraduate level in the city of Imperatriz/MA. In this way, the historical context of Brazilian Higher Education is presented, from its first initiatives to the military period, with emphasis on the contradictions for the democratization of higher education for the lower classes. The discussion extends from the reform of the Brazilian State, pointing out the neoliberal ideology as a guiding thread in this process of change and in the institutionalization of public educational policies, especially in Higher Education, including the policy in ProUni. It contextualizes ProUni in three different aspects and provides an overview in the context of Imperatriz/MA, based on the contributions of its fellows. As a methodological approach, the work strives to meet an approach of historical-dialectical materialism. Qualitative and quantitative research was adopted as a complement in the search for understanding of ProUni in the city of Imperatriz/MA. Considering the constitution of the work, ProUni in Imperatriz, contributed to the process of expansion of vacancies, in line with the increase in the number of institutions and courses from the 2000s onwards. In addition, the need for public policies that meet to meet the permanence of students in higher education is imminent. Thinking about the democratization of higher education under the tripod access- permanence and success is the great challenge of higher education educational policies in a country that, historically, has excluded large sectors of the population from this educational level.