Atuação e organização dos professores da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais diante da mercantilização da educação superior no Brasil

Abstract

This research analyzes the actions of professors at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and the leadership of the Union of Professors of Federal Universities of Belo Horizonte, Montes Claros, and Ouro Branco (APUBH) in response to the commercialization of higher education in Brazil, with an emphasis on its manifestations at UFMG from 2007 to 2024. The selected timeframe is based on the implementation of the Program for the Restructuring and Expansion of Federal Universities (REUNI), which reinforced commercializing practices in higher education. UFMG was chosen as the object of analysis due to its historical and current significance in shaping higher education in the country. The research is grounded in the Marxist framework. The study was conducted in three stages: a literature review, document analysis, and observation of union activities between 2021 and the 2024 strike. The thesis is structured into five chapters. The first examines the process of higher education commercialization. The second investigates how and why this process occurs in Brazil and its specific manifestations at UFMG. The third chapter outlines the analytical categorie of class struggle , which underpin the analysis of faculty action and union organization. The fourth chapter presents and analyzes actions based on observations of activities convened by APUBH between 2021 and 2023. The fifth and final chapter examines UFMG’s participation in the 2024 federal education strike, drawing from observations of its development and outcome. The research concludes that, in the restructuring process of public universities, faculty organization and resistance/adherence play a central role in defending public universities and faculty working conditions. Despite its limitations and contradictions, union organization remains an essential space for confronting the commercialization of education and defending faculty rights. At UFMG, this dynamic manifests as a field of dispute between different political organization conceptions, reflecting the contradictions inherent in class struggle, a scenario likely observed in other universities with union practices similar to those of the APUBH leadership.