RESENHA CRÍTICA: A UNIVERSIDADE PÚBLICA SOB NOVA PERSPECTIVA – DE MARILENA CHAUI

Abstract

In her text "The Public University from a New Perspective", the renowned Brazilian philosopher presents a critical and profound reflection on the direction of public universities, highlighting their essential role in the formation of a democratic society and revealing the transformations that this institution has undergone over the years, especially in the context of state reforms. The author begins by addressing the transformations that have occurred in universities in recent decades, particularly due to the growing influence of neoliberalism, which seeks to reduce universities to a merely technical space focused on the market. She defends universities as a space for the production and dissemination of knowledge, but also as a space for the struggle for a more just society. Chauí argues that public universities have always had an educational and emancipatory role, promoting not only scientific and technological advancement, but also the development of critical awareness, which allows citizens to understand and intervene in social reality in a more in-depth manner. Under neoliberal logic, however, knowledge is transformed into a commodity and universities into a market instrument, losing their public and social essence. The book highlights key points for reflection: 1) The university as a social institution - Chauí emphasizes that the university is not an island isolated from society, but a reflection of its contradictions and conflicts. The university institution expresses the different worldviews, divergent interests and power struggles that permeate society as a whole; 2) Criticism of the transformation into a social organization - The philosopher vehemently criticizes the transformation of the public university into a social organization, a measure that, according to her, weakens the autonomy of the institution and subjects it to market logic. This change, argues Chauí, results in the precariousness of the working conditions of professors and the commercialization of knowledge; 3) The importance of university autonomy - Chauí defends the autonomy of the university as a fundamental condition for the production of critical and relevant knowledge for society. Autonomy allows the university to investigate controversial topics, form critical citizens and promote social transformation; 4) Democratization of higher education - she warns of the need to differentiate the democratization of higher education from massification. Democratization implies ensuring access and permanence of all sectors of society in universities, while massification can lead to the precariousness of education and the loss of quality in teaching, and, 5) Revaluation of teaching and research - Chauí defends the need to revalue teaching as a process of continuous training and research as an instrument for building a more just and equitable society. Research, according to the philosopher, should be guided by the idea of ​​citizenship and require public funding.
For the author, this new perspective of universities creates a worrying scenario: knowledge is fragmented, the humanities and social sciences are undervalued, and research is focused only on areas that generate immediate profit. This compromises the university's role of promoting critical thinking, cultural diversity and integral human development. In addition, the privatization and scrapping of public education widens social inequalities and limits access to knowledge for the working classes.
Chauí argues that public universities must resist this neoliberal perspective, reaffirming their role as a space for academic freedom, social criticism and inclusion. She believes that, to achieve this, it is necessary to revive the idea of ​​universities as public assets, guided by the collective interest and not by private profit. Higher education must be accessible to all and guided by the values ​​of democracy, citizenship and social justice. In short, the text is a call for the defense of public universities as spaces for critical education and social transformation. The author denounces the dangers of the commercialization of education and proposes the resumption of higher education as a universal right and a pillar of a truly democratic society. Thus, the work “Public Universities from a New Perspective” is an important contribution to the reflection on the role of public universities in contemporary society. The philosopher invites us to think critically about the transformations that the institution has been undergoing and to defend the importance of universities as spaces for the production of knowledge, the formation of critical citizens and the promotion of social transformation.