A decree signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, this Monday (19), regulates the qualification of community higher education institutions and defines rules so that they can form partnerships with state bodies and access resources from the public budget. These entities are non-profit colleges and universities created as an association or foundation and managed by a community council formed by various segments of civil society.
“This decree will allow institutions to have access to notices from government funding agencies aimed at public institutions. They will have the right to receive budgetary resources from the public authorities for the development of activities of public interest. They will have the possibility of being an alternative in the provision of public services, in cases where they are not provided directly by public, partner and public-state entities”, highlighted the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, during the signing event of the act, at Palácio do Planalto.
The ceremony was attended by President Lula and several authorities and representatives of community colleges.
The new standard regulates the so-called Community Law (Law nº 12,881/2013) and was prepared from a working group created by the Ministry of Education (MEC) in 2024which brought together experts from the department, the National Education Council (CNE) and representatives from entities such as the Brazilian Association of Community Institutions of Higher Education (Abruc) and the Consortium of Community Universities of Rio Grande do Sul (Comung).
During the ceremony, Santana also highlighted that the community higher education institutions performed well in the National Medical Training Assessment Exam (Enamed)held last year. You results were released this Monday. “This shows the relevance of these community institutions, and many of them are present in municipalities that do not have a public university,” said the minister.
The president of Abruc and dean of the Centro Universitário Frassinetti do Recife (UniFAFIRE), Maria das Graças Soares da Costa, also spoke at the event and thanked these institutions for recognizing Brazil’s regional development. “We will create a new story with his signature, which honors us greatly, and we want to do it with all responsibility, especially on the day when the registration for Sisu [Sistema de Seleção Unificada]“, he declared.
