50 years of the University Reform of 1968. The reform is not over

Abstract

The University Reform of 1968 turns 50 years as the most important legal framework of two complementary processes of transformation of higher education in Brazil. At first, we observe that this law provide the basic conditions for the organization of teaching and research institutions, stimulating the expansion of opportunities, especially in the private sector that disputes government resources with public institutions and seeks profits as a priority part of their activities. Four decades later, the basis of the 1968 reform supported government programs that increased opportunities in federal institutions more consistently, although incorporating a global trend of diversification of the modalities and organizational teaching and research formats on the intensification of the globalization process. The most important challenge of the reform, however, remained pending: the pursuit of quality in higher education in a new context of production and development of knowledge in competitive and collaborative manner.