Autonomia universitária: da história à conquista um estudo de caso na Universidade do Oeste Paulista - Unoeste

Abstract

The aim of autonomy is part of the university since its creation in the Middle Ages, and due to interventions made by the Church and the State, great changes were brought about. Such a concept is a complex one and has generated various discussions, different interpretations and trends of thought. For some scholars, the autonomy is the dismissal of any limit or link with the State, the university is entitled to self-government; for others, such autonomy is viewed as relative and is emphasized as to specific issues to the extent that the university presents an improvement in the quality of its teaching. This research was carried out to ponder on the creation of the University in Brazil and the importance of Private Higher Education Institutions, their development into corporations and the search for autonomy by means of Educational Reforms proposed by the State, and changes brought about along history. For that analysis, one investigated the environments of Universidade do Oeste Paulista (Unoeste) teaching, research and services extended to the community in order to verify which of those higher education functions is allowed greater freedom to achieve self-government and whether the application of the University Autonomy (granted by art. 207 of the 1988 Federal Constitution) is being put into practice or whether the new Laws, Decrees and Administrative Rules enacted by the State interfere, directly or indirectly, within the university jurisdiction. To carry out this research and achieve its aims, one adopted a qualitative approach, a descriptive historical course, with a critical-dialectical epistemological axis in a case study. One used in the research documents concerning Unoeste, acts such as Bylaws, Internal Rules, minutes of the University Research and Graduate Board and those laws dealing with the issue of research. It points to the conclusion that the university autonomy should not be mistaken as a constitutional device, but rather as a process in progress.