The University alive in relation to the popular classes

Abstract

This is an essay on the Brazilian University, its possibilities and limits at this time of deepening of counter reforms. The aim is the relationship between the University and the Popular Classes as an alternative, that is analyzed from the privatist tendencies of higher education policies in Brazil, as well as from science and technology, in this moment of transition from the brief period of neodevelopment to the deepening of the counter reforms begun in the 1990s. The essay is inspired by interviews whith Brazilian researchers who have worked at the university with family farmers, smallholders and rural settlement, collectors of recyclable material, organized in cooperatives and associations. The analyzes are structured in the dialogue with the ideas of Dagnino (2015) and Leher (2015) on the University, as well as bibliographical and documentary research (legislations) on the topics addressed. Is carried out a review of the policies of higher education and of science and technology, considered in the aspect of inclusion and the relation with the popular classes. The first decade of this century is favored, a brief period of Brazilian neodevelopment, ending with the deepening of counter-reforms under way. To begin, Brazilian higher education is analyzed, indicating the more general trends in the field of public policies. Following, are addressed the trends in science and technology policies. Is followed the analysis of the possibilities and limits of the relationship between university and popular classes as an alternative that is carried out in a contradictory way. It is concluded that the relation between University and Popular Classes constitutes an alternative to the re-creation of the first. The University, in contributing to these movements, recreates itself.