A oportunidade política do movimento pró-universidade na institucionalização da Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul

Abstract

Higher education is currently established as an indispensable technical training for advancement in the job market and consequently in society. Thus, decentralized universities in peripheral regions of the country, such as the Federal University of the Southern Border (UFFS), play a major role as training spaces for the less privileged social classes, offering training spaces that until now could only be accessed in large institutions located near large urban centers. In view of this, this work aims to highlight the processes related to grassroots social movements, especially the PRO-UFFS Movement, considered the protagonist in the construction of a federal university with a “popular” character. The methodology adopted is based on a specialized bibliography that addresses the influences and political issues surrounding Brazilian higher education, as well as focusing on clarifying the political and administrative factors that favored the development of the university through the promotion of initiatives to stimulate public higher education. The text highlights the actions of the pro-University movement in an attempt to achieve this objective and consolidate UFFS as a public and “popular” institution, due to the strong presence of the capitalist State in its functioning. Through an analysis of the political scenario involved in this process of creating the university, one also observes the phenomenon related to the political opportunity promoted through interactions between organizations such as unions, social movements and the community itself, which together, in an organic way, organized themselves and intended for the university to come to the mesoregion of the great Mercosur border, an opportunity that will favor the human and economic development of the region.