Universidade e desenvolvimento regional: o caso da Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia

Abstract

The work discusses university and regional development, seeking to understand how a higher education institution can contribute to the development of a region. For this purpose, it addresses the interrelations between university and regional development, adopting the case of the Federal University of Western Bahia (UFOB) as a reference. Thus, it wants to understand to what extent, from its implementation, in the period from 2014 to 2022, UFOB has been favoring the regional economic development of western Bahia. Therefore, it assumes bibliographical and documental research as a methodology. Initially, a reading is made on what regional development is about, what are its approaches and scope, and, in short, how its main theorists think. It seeks to understand the role of the university in the contemporary world and how it has contributed to regional development. It synthesizes the antecedents of higher education in Brazil and contextualizes its recent expansion, reviewing the government programs that made the birth of UFOB possible, notably the Support Program for Restructuring and Expansion Plans of Federal Universities (REUNI). As a way of broadening the understanding of the territory in which the University operates, it discusses the occupation and characterization of the West Region of Bahia. It raises the historical antecedents and its recent occupation due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier, aiming to know the regional socioeconomic transformations resulting from this fact. The results show that, given the short time elapsed since the beginning of its activities and resource limitations, UFOB, in its relationship with regional social forces, has discreetly contributed to the development of the Western Region of Bahia