Decentralization of power in Brazilian public universities: a comparison between multicampi university and democratic federal states

Abstract

This article analyzes the multicampi university model, which expanded in Brazil between 2017 and 2012, due to the Support Program for Federal University Restructuring and Expansion Plans (REUNI), with a specific focus on the characteristics, limits and possibilities of administrative decentralization, which would imply, in the case of universities, the autonomy of advanced campuses. To this end, an analysis of democratic federal states was developed, aiming to establish comparisons between them and universities with respect to decentralized arrangements. It was verified, especially, how the historiography of the political arrangement of nations like Brazil and the United States can contribute to show in an exemplary way what can happen when the prerogative of authority is rebalanced in universities. For this, a literature review was carried out, analyzing the contribution of authors from the political-social areas, public administration and organization, applying organizational modeling techniques. The results obtained demonstrated the difficulty in establishing a definitive position on which is the best model between the centralized and the decentralized. It was found, however, that there are similarities between the challenges faced by national states and university institutions, and the studies developed on decentralization in the former may support reflections on the advantages of adopting similar models in the latter.