Analysis of efficiency of community councils as mechanisms of social control in Brazil's federal universities

Abstract

Community councils were originated by Federal Law 10.172/01, with the intention of approaching the community of federal universities in order to understand and meet the specific demands of society. After the time passage of a decade of the publication of the Law, this study seeks to verify the existence and interaction of these councils with universities and with the insertion of society in academic life. Through an exploratory study, involving the use of bibliographic and documentary analysis, we assessed the status of 56 federal universities to analyze the organizational structures of the institutions, such as the existence of community councils and society  participation in decisions. As a result, it was found that while the community councils exist and that, unlike the proposal dictated by law, they are limited to advisory nature, being the citizens’ participation greatly reduced in the university decisions.