A política de expansão das universidades e os impactos econômicos sobre os municípios mineiros

Abstract

In the last two decades, several public policies have been developed aimed at expanding the federal higher education network, with a focus on internalizing campuses. The process intensified with the implementation of the Program for Support of Restructuring and Expansion Plans for Federal Universities (REUNI) in 2007, where the state of Minas Gerais benefited the most, becoming the federative entity with the highest number of federal university cells. In light of the above, this study aims to analyze the economic impacts of opening a federal university campus in the municipalities covered by REUNI. The variables of interest were population size, GDP, GDP per capita, and municipal revenue, using the differences-in-differences method. The results demonstrate that the implementation of the policy managed to generate positive effects on the indicators, except for the population, which did not show a statistically significant response. The opening of a campus is associated with an increase in GDP of approximately R$ 1.5 million, an average increase in municipal revenue of R$ 156,009.70, and causes an impact of approximately R$ 6,000 more in GDP per capita. Furthermore, it is worth noting that it is of utmost importance to conduct further studies to assess the impacts on other essential indicators, such as education levels and employability in the regions covered.