THE SENSE OF THE PUBLIC AND THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Taking the debate on the public meaning in the Public University as a research problem, the objective of this article is to understand how and in what way the public university contributes to its student body playing an emancipatory and critical role in society. A review of recent literature on the topic in question was adopted. The concrete experience of the Quotas Policy at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora was used as a reference document. The study demonstrated that the democratization of the Public University created conditions of possibility for the implementation and consolidation of the Quota Policy and, in this way, expanded access and retention of students, warning the most vulnerable sectors of brazilian society.