Author:

Júlio José de Araújo Filho

Abstract:

During this period, from 2000 to 2009, with the increasing massification of higher education, societal demands – large campuses and expensive maintenance, decentralization of courses – and at the same time the decrease in financial, material, and human resources, competition among Federal Institutions of Higher Education (IFES) for resources created the need to foster positive influence in the National Congress, without acting as a degenerative factor between the institutions and the democratic government, so that UnB could serve the community of the Federal District and the surrounding region. This study aims to demonstrate how the University of Brasília (UnB) relates to the National Congress (CN), within the scope of its merit committees, mainly in Education and Culture, Science and Technology, and the Joint Committee on Budget and Plans of the National Congress. The study will examine UnB’s actions with the CN to understand the mechanism of budget preparation, discussion, and voting, how UnB defines its priorities and submits them to the CN, from the inclusion and subsequent release of parliamentary amendments. This participation has demonstrated greater efficiency and improved collaboration between UnB and congressmen, especially the DF (Federal District) delegation, influencing decisions, the use and distribution of budgetary resources to solve problems in Higher Education and advance the expansion of Public Higher Education for the population of the DF and the RIDE (Integrated Development Region of the Federal District and Surrounding Areas), within a process of socialization in a democratic context. In this sense, it is important to understand the social context and history of UnB, its proposals, and its expansion project. When analyzing the historical series from 2000 to 2009 of parliamentary amendments that translated into financial resources for UnB, and comparing the results of this action with the amendments of ANDIFES (National Association of Federal Institutions of Higher Education), which also acts in the National Congress representing the group of Federal Institutions of Higher Education, or with groups of universities whose states have similar delegations (i.e., delegations close to that of the DF), or even groups of Federal Institutions of Higher Education with larger delegations, we find that UnB stands out in this process.