Políticas de Financiamento e Núcleos de Acessibilidade: em foco as Universidades Federais do Norte do Brasil (2012-2022)

Abstract

This study, linked to the Research Line State, Policies, and Educational Management of the Graduate Program at the Federal University of Uberlândia, was driven by questions concerning the relationship between funding policies and the performance of the Accessibility Centers (NAs) at Federal Universities in Northern Brazil from 2012 to 2022. The guiding questions of the research were: How are Federal Universities in the North developing inclusion work through their Accessibility Centers? What are the main challenges faced by the NAs in implementing actions aimed at admission and retention of these students? Based on these questions, the following objectives were established: general objective – to understand funding policies and the performance of the NAs in these universities; and specific objectives – to map the actions carried out by the NAs of the investigated higher education institutions (HEIs); to discuss how the principle of educational inclusion, proposed by education policies for students served by special education, is expressed through the actions of the NAs and supported by funding policies; to identify how the federal universities develop inclusion work through their NAs; and to indicate, based on institutional documents, the main obstacles faced by the NAs in implementing actions for the admission and retention of students served by special education. Qualitative in nature, this was a documentary research whose sources included official documents—from the federal government and 11 federal universities located in Northern Brazil—such as resolutions, decrees, ordinances, internal regulations, management reports, plans, and electronic communications. The search for sources was conducted through online databases and via email. A documentary analysis was carried out from a descriptive-critical perspective, grounded in the readings of Michel Foucault, whose studies problematize power relations, forms of government, discourses, and biopower—contributing significantly to a critical understanding of inclusion and the mechanisms that sustain it in contemporary educational practices and policies. The study reveals that the inclusion policies developed by the NAs of the investigated institutions are, to a large extent, public policies of control and governance over bodies. Although they promote access and retention of students served by special education, they are strongly marked by a logic of regulation and normalization. These are policies more interested in adapting students to the educational environment than in ensuring their intellectual and political autonomy. Funding for the Accessibility Centers has proven unstable and insufficient to ensure the implementation and consolidation of these policies, which compromises the effectiveness of inclusion actions in HEIs and poses significant challenges to the sustainability of accessibility policies.