Políticas de expansão para o ensino superior no contexto do REUNI: a implementação do programa na UFRN

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the strategies of expansion of higher education considering the public education institutions, taking as an analysis reference the expansion in the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN) with the introduction of the Federal Universities Restructuring and Expansion Plans Support Program (Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais - REUNI. It is a quali-quantitative research that utilizes bibliographical and documental research as methodological procedures, in addition to the analysis of statistical data about the expansion of higher education in UFRN after REUNI. Through the research it is possible to infer that the introduction of REUNI in UFRN has brought various changes in the way of managing the services in the institution, in view of the adoption of a management model, stressing the accession to the management contract. The presented data demonstrate that the goals agreed upon were reached almost in their entirety, and some were even outreached. The expansion of UFRN is evident, as well as the improvement of the physical and structural conditions of the institution. However, in the matter of quality, it is not possible to affirm that there has been progress, given the substantial increase of the professor-student ratio, which confirms that the expansion is also carried through the rationalization of existing human resources and physical structure.