The research hereby presented had as its main objective and focus the university management in the Federal University of Para - UFPA (State of Para, Brazil), with emphasis to participation and autonomy in the process of institutional decision-making within the context of the reform of the State, in the years 2001 through 2011. It consisted of a case study that departed from the premise that, within the context of neoliberal reforms and by means of rules and regulations both national and international, the model of managerialism is being spread throughout the institutions of the social sectors, such as the universities, which takes place under internal consent and according to guidelines that approximate them to the market, causing participation to be restricted to collegiate and autonomy to be devalued. In UFPA, actions of the Superior Councils such as reformulation of legal framework, planning processes, election of directors, among others, have been adjusted to the principles underlying the guidelines mentioned above, and thereby university management is being remodeled. The method of dialectical historical materialism was used in order to analyze the conflicts and contradictions present in the model of management adopted by UFPA. The data were gathered in a number of sources, namely minutes, regiments and resolutions of the institution as well as in Brazilian legislation and documents issued by international organizations. Also, semi-structured interviews with nine subjects and direct observation of the meetings of the Councils were conducted, from September/2010 through September/2011. Analysis was carried on regarding: - theoretical conceptions of management and its transposition to the educational sector within the context of the capitalist society; - the model of managerialist management and its relation to the neoliberal reforms of the State as well as of Higher Education, departing from regulations issued by the federal government in accordance to the international organizations; - the main conflicts inherent to the university management, in UFPA, with emphasis to the statutory reformulation, the choice of directors, and the institutional planning process; - the materialization of the university management through the actuation of the UFPA Superior Councils. Results indicate that the model of management founded upon the principles of managerialism has been adopted in UFPA being consented by the Superior Councils and expressed in the processes of elaboration of the new Statute of UFPA, the Plan of Institutional Development (PDI), and the Program for the Support to Plans of Restructure and Expansion of Federal Universities (REUNI); in the choice of the major administrators; and in the actuation of the Superior Councils. Such aspects demonstrate the relation to the guidelines and regulations issued by the neoliberal State and international organizations, and indicate a model of management that, on the one side, does not allow for collective participation while restricts the UFPA institutional autonomy, and on the other, promotes distancing from debate and from the implementation of an emancipatory project.
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