Contradições da expansão do ensino superior brasileiro por meio do REUNI, FIES e PROUNI

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to examine the expansion of Brazilian higher education critically, propelled by the University For All Program-Prouni - (Law 11.096/2004), and by the Student Financing Fund-Fies (Law 10.260/2001). This expansion, which constitutes itself as the object of study, is mainly verified through the evolution of the variables numbers of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and matriculations. Methodologically,this research is characterized as qualitative and documentary. Therefore, we analyzed official documents from several institutions, such as: 1) Census of Higher Education, from Inep/MEC; 2) Management reports from the National Education Development Fund (FNDE) about the number of Fies contracts and the student default; 3) Decrees and Laws emaneted by the federal government; among others. Theoretically, we based on classic studies of Marx (1989, 1984, 2012); on the contemporary analyzes of Lazzaratto (2017), Chesnais (1998, 2005); Smith (1996) and Mandeville (2017) on the definition of liberalism at its origins and on Friedman (1985), on the characterization neoliberalism. To highlight, in a panoramic way, the construction and formation of the Brazilian State, we used the knowledge of authors, for example Furtado (2000), Cunha (1980), Machado (1991) Padro Júnior (1994), Sodré (1970) and Romanelli (2001); Filgueiras (2018, 2015, 2010), Davies (2014, 2016), Singer (2012) and Leher (2010, 2019, 2020) on the elucidation of the current Brazilian reality. The quantitative expansion of this level of education in the almost two first decades of the 21st century is undeniable. However, the private sector with the support of the two programs mentioned, had a much greater expansion than the state sector, despite investments in Federal Institutions of Higher Education. The social and economic impacts range from lowering the quality of education until the indebtedness of graduate students, even before entering the job market. The analysis confirms the proposition that Fies and Prouni are a policy which aims to favor the private iniciative, transforming the education more and more into a merchandise whose quality becomes precarious in the name of cost reduction, in order to increase the profits of these educational companies.