University in Brazil: from its origins to university reform – 1968

Abstract

The article situates the attempts for the creation of universities in Brazil, from the time it was a Colony up to the Empire and the beginning of the Republic periods, which were unsuccessful. It registers the issuing of several legal apparatuses concerning higher education during the first Republic, even though the creation of universities as a whole had been postponed until 1920
by the Federal Government, year in which the University of Rio de Janeiro was created. It also acknowledges the discussions carried out within the Brazilian Academies of Sciences and of Education about the concepts, functions and models of university. The article analyses the Reform of Higher Education by Francisco Campos (1931) and discusses its centralizing approach. It pinpoints the creation of the University of São Paulo (1934) and that of the University Federal District (1935) at the same period, pointing
out that those express different concepts to the federal proposal. It situates the University of Brazil (1937) as a model, created in 1920 under the denomination of URJ and recognized in 1931. The article also discusses the university after 1945, highlighting the awareness of its situation by several sectors of the society from the 50s onwards, particularly concerning the role of students movements in the beginnings of the 60s. It presents official
measures taken as a result of the agreements MEC/USAID, of the Atcon Plan and of the Meira Mattos report. It discusses the University Reform of 1968 and its consequences for the university institutions.