DREAMS, REALITIES AND HOPES: PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION AT THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY CENTER IN TRÊS DE MAIO CITY, RIO GRANDE DO SUL STATE, BRAZIL

Abstract

The central theme of this article is the educational history, permeated by dreams, realities and hopes of free and with good quality public higher education at the Federal University Center in Três de Maio city, Rio Grande do Sul State, within the scope of the Open University of Brazil Program. Methodologically, bibliographic-documentary research, oral history and critical-dialectical analysis were used. Empirically, regional history was sought, through it identifying the path of achieving access to public higher education, which, in the present, goes through setbacks and deconstructions. In the end, it was observed that the presence of the Federal University center in Três de Maio brought about a profound change in the local reality, with regard to the democratization and interiorization of public and free higher education that, guided by dreams and struggles, continues in move.