Key words: Counter-hegemonic education. Popular education. Higher education. Inclusion. Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul.

Abstract

This article is a reflection on the university, with a focus on new models of higher education. The access to university can’t longer be a matter of merit and privilege, but a right of all people, guaranteed by the State. The right to education on equal terms, implies the expansion of the public space of education and the democratization of educational institutions. New models of higher education have emerged in Brazil in the last ten years, against the traditional universities, institutional projects of inclusion of social groups that, over time, were excluded from the inalienable right to higher education. The Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahía (UFFS), on which this study focuses, is presented as one of those institutions, at all levels, it aims to be counter-hegemonic. From a methodological point of view, the institutional documents were analysed and interviews with key players who contributed for the institutionalization of the university and for the operationalization of its innovative project, popular character.