O programa MEC/BID III e o CEDATE na consolidação dos campi universitários no Brasil

Abstract

The campus as a physical support base for mass higher education systems, which was adopted globally from the 1950s, and its historical and conceptual context from the Brazilian point of view have been subjected to very few studies. Following the example of Europe and the United States, due to demographic pressures after World War II and the need for economic development, numerous Brazilian campuses were implemented. In 1975, however, the Proceedings of the First National Seminar on the University Campus Planning already revealed the shortcomings of the new campuses of federal universities, which made it impossible for them to meet the demands of the 1968 University Reform Act. Successive agreements were signed with the International Development Bank for the restructuring of these physical spaces. The last of these, the MEC/IDB III program signed in 1980, allocated USD 105 million to nine federal universities in order for them to expand, fill in the gaps and find solutions for the shortcomings that remained after the establishment of these campuses in the 1960s and 70s. The general objective of this paper is to delve into an issue of major importance for the physical planning of the university space: the consolidation of the campus as international trend even in countries like France, where they didn’t even exist until the 1950s, and Brazil, where until the 1960s the isolated College prevailed. Among the specific objectives stands the inquiry of historic and architectural aspects related to campuses of federal universities due to restructuring and physical expansion activities that occurred within the scope of the MEC/IDB III program in the 1980s, through the actions of CEDATE - Centre for Development and Technical Support in Education. The methodology used is related to the field of historiographical studies in Architecture and Urbanism. The search for secondary sources led the research to the FAU-USP library, which provided 42 national articles offered by the Brazilian Architecture Index and 90 titles of international articles from the most traditional international journals. It also led to the UFF, where specific literature was gathered on university campuses and the MEC/IDB III program. Also were important as secondary sources the international literature offered by Muthesius (2000), Chapman (2006), Turner (1984), De Carlo (2005) and other national publications from such authors as Alberto (2003), Cunha (2007) and Rodrigues (2001). Furthermore, the primary sources were prioritized in this study. Interviews were conducted with professionals from CEDATE as well as with architects, engineers and managers involved in the implementation process of the UFJF campus in the 1970s, and others who worked on its 1980’s consolidation. To put this approach into practice, this paper presents a case study of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, which is a typical Brazilian campus from the large 1960’s implementations, which was later consolidated in the 1980s through the MEC/IDB III program. The results found during the study show a profound identification and convergence of the processes experienced in Europe with the Brazilian higher education experience since the mid -twentieth century.