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Program · Reuni

Program to Support Restructuring and Expansion Plans of the Federal Universities (Reuni)

Problem
To expand access to and retention in undergraduate education at the federal universities. The program's decree states as its basis the higher education expansion target of the National Education Plan (Law No. 10,172/2001).
Who it serves
Federal universities that requested to join with a restructuring plan approved by their highest governing body, with university autonomy respected.
How it works
Under Decree No. 6,096/2007, the MEC allocates additional resources to each university as restructuring plans are submitted, with transfers tied to the completion of stages; the increase for operating costs and personnel is limited to twenty percent of the university's such expenses over five years, and the fulfillment of the plans depends on the budgetary and operational capacity of the ministry. The overall target is to raise, at the end of five years from the start of each plan, the average completion rate of in-person undergraduate courses to ninety percent and the ratio of students to teachers to eighteen; the guidelines include reducing dropout, filling idle places, and increasing entry places, especially in the evening period.

Education

Relation to the Lula governments

Created under Lula · Second term (2007 to 2010) · since April 2007

Reuni was established by Decree No. 6,096 of April 24, 2007, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fernando Haddad, and Paulo Bernardo Silva, to expand access to and retention in undergraduate education at the federal universities.[1]

Decree 6,096/2007 requires the MEC to allocate to the program resources reserved for each federal university, as the restructuring plans are prepared and submitted; the increase in resources for operating costs and personnel is limited to twenty percent of the university's such expenses over the five-year period, and the fulfillment of the plans is conditional on the budgetary and operational capacity of the Ministry of Education.[2]

Origin and precursors

Origin milestone: founding legal act, Second term (2007 to 2010).

Reuni was established by Decree No. 6,096 of April 24, 2007, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fernando Haddad, and Paulo Bernardo Silva, to expand access to and retention in undergraduate education at the federal universities.[1]

Precursors

  • Expansão I phase of federal higher education (2003 to 2007, same government) similar initiative, no succession stated by the source According to a report of an MEC commission (Ordinance No. 126/2012), the first phase of the federal higher education expansion programs, called Expansão I, covered 2003 to 2007 and had as its main target bringing federal public higher education to the interior, which until 2002 had 45 federal universities and 148 campuses/units.[3]
  • Andifes proposal similar initiative, no succession stated by the source The report of the MEC commission, made up of representatives of Sesu/MEC, Andifes, UNE, and ANPG, states that Reuni results from the government's attempt to meet the demands and aspirations of various civil society entities for an expansion in the supply of places in federal higher education.[4]

Precursor investigation: new structure established (October 13, 2026).

Scope: Rules and statements of reasons at the Planalto, publications of the ministries and oversight bodies, searches recorded in the dossier (research of October 13, 2026). The lead "Programa Expandir" was not confirmed; the Reuni General Guidelines were inaccessible.

Responsibilities

  • Federal universities (adhesion with a plan approved by the council) partnership

    Under Decree 6,096/2007, it is up to the federal university to request to join, at any time, with a restructuring plan approved by its highest governing body, with university autonomy respected; the fulfillment of the plans depends on the budgetary and operational capacity of the MEC, and the expenses are charged to the MEC's appropriations.[5]

  • Presidency of the Republic (decree, no specific law) design

    Reuni was established by Decree No. 6,096 of April 24, 2007, issued by the President of the Republic in the exercise of the authority conferred by art. 84, item VI, subitem "a", of the Constitution; the decree provides that the expenses arising from it will be charged to the budget appropriations allocated annually to the Ministry of Education.[6]

Timeline

Timeline of Program to Support Restructuring and Expansion Plans of the Federal Universities (Reuni)
DatePhaseWhat happened
April 24, 2007Legal actDecree 6,096 establishes the program.[1]

What was established

Under Decree 6,096/2007, the proposal approved by the MEC gives rise to specific instruments that set the university's additional resources and tie the transfers to the completion of the plan's stages.[7]

How it works

Decree No. 6,096/2007 set as the overall target of Reuni the gradual increase of the average completion rate of in-person undergraduate courses to ninety percent and of the ratio of undergraduate students in in-person courses to teachers to eighteen, at the end of five years, counting from the start of each plan.[8]

Decree 6,096/2007 sets as guidelines of Reuni, among others, the reduction of dropout rates, the filling of idle places, and the increase of entry places, especially in the evening period, and the expansion of inclusion and student assistance policies; the fulfillment of the universities' plans is conditional on the budgetary and operational capacity of the Ministry of Education.[9]

Budget and spending

Figures are nominal unless stated otherwise. Announced, authorized, committed, liquidated and paid amounts are different things and appear with the type indicated. In SIOP lines, "paid" means paid within the same fiscal year (arrears settled later are not counted), and one budget action can fund more than one program: the text says when the action is only part of a program.

In Table 9 of the first-year report, the total agreed for Reuni in 2008 (excluding Capes scholarships) was R$496,998,529 and the amount made available was R$491,882,340, 99% of the amount agreed (difference of R$-5,116,189).[10]

In the federal budget open data (SIOP), action 8282 (Restructuring and Expansion of the Federal Universities - REUNI) records: in 2008, authorized appropriation of R$167,881,727, committed and liquidated of R$162,251,364, and paid in the fiscal year of R$38,603,727; in 2009, authorized of R$586,631,227, committed and liquidated of R$468,391,419, and paid of R$190,189,584; in 2010, authorized of R$803,031,724, committed and liquidated of R$724,376,943, and paid of R$353,379,531. Nominal values. The 2012 report of the MEC commission cites action 8,282 as the budget action of Reuni.[11]

The report of the commission established by the MEC (Ordinance No. 126/2012) presents, in Table I (Budget resources of the expansion program 2005-2012, source Sesu/MEC), the operating and investment budget resources allocated to the federal university expansion programs: R$67,481,106 in 2005, R$1,745,705,690 in 2010, and R$9,996,296,234 in the grand total for 2005 to 2012.[12]

Beneficiaries

Annual flow, a monthly stock and a cumulative total cannot be added together.

According to the first-year report of Reuni (MEC/SESu, 2009), there were 54 federal universities in operation in 2007 and 53 submitted adhesion projects; UFABC, created in 2005, did not participate because it already adopted the pedagogical innovations advocated by the program.[13]

Deliverables

Announcement, contracting, completion and operation are different phases.

The first-year report of Reuni records that, with 2007 as the reference (132,451 places in in-person undergraduate courses), the projects agreed to 146,762 places for 2008 and the federal universities offered 147,277 places in 2008, an increase of 14,826 places (execution source: PingIFES).[14]

For 2008, the participating universities agreed to 3,459 positions (1,821 faculty and 1,638 technical staff); as of the date of the report, 1,560 faculty positions and 1,275 administrative technical positions had been filled.[15]

According to the MEC commission report (2012), from 2003 to 2010 the number of federal universities rose from 45 to 59, an expansion of 31%.[16]

The 2012 MEC commission report says that the number of municipalities served by federal universities rose from 114 to 272. The expansion page of the MEC's Reuni portal, which displays the date February 24, 2010, says that the number rose from 114 in 2003 to 237 by the end of 2011.[17]

The MEC commission report (2012) presents, with Census/Inep as source, the places offered in in-person undergraduate courses at the federal universities: 109,184 in 2003 and 218,152 in 2010.[18]

Impact evaluations

Evaluations with a causal design are flagged; association is not proof of effect.

According to the study by Bergmann, Ribeiro, Niquito, and Teixeira (Análise Econômica, UFRGS, v. 38, n. 77, 2020), which applies difference-in-differences to a panel of municipalities with data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses and from Simec, the expansion of the federal universities and institutes between 2000 and 2010 showed positive evidence of impact and of synergies on the employment rate and on the formalization of jobs in the municipalities covered; the authors note that the short-term effects are not very strong.[19]

Audits

In Report No. 33 on the Evaluation of the Execution of Government Programs (December 2014), the CGU, based on 88 works inspected at 40 universities between 2010 and 2012 (out of a universe of 889 Reuni works), found that 60 of the 73 works analyzed on this point (82.2%) had in their bidding notices at least one clause restricting competitiveness and that in 37.5% of the works (27) execution followed neither the physical nor the financial schedule.[20]

Context

The Reuni decree states as its basis the higher education expansion target in item 4.3.1 of the National Education Plan (Law No. 10,172/2001).[21]

Sources and evidence

Excerpts are quoted in the original language of the source.

  1. 1. Reuni was established by Decree No. 6,096 of April 24, 2007, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fernando Haddad, and Paulo Bernardo Silva, to expand access to and retention in undergraduate education at the federal universities.

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 1, caput. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Fica instituído o Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais - REUNI, com o objetivo de criar condições para a ampliação do acesso e permanência na educação superior, no nível de graduação, pelo melhor aproveitamento da estrutura física e de recursos humanos”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: closing and signatures. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Brasília, 24 de abril de 2007; 186o da Independência e 119o da República. LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA Fernando Haddad Paulo Bernardo Silva”

  2. 2. Decree 6,096/2007 requires the MEC to allocate to the program resources reserved for each federal university, as the restructuring plans are prepared and submitted; the increase in resources for operating costs and personnel is limited to twenty percent of the university's such expenses over the five-year period, and the fulfillment of the plans is conditional on the budgetary and operational capacity of the Ministry of Education.

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 3, caput. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Ministério da Educação destinará ao Programa recursos financeiros, que serão reservados a cada universidade federal, na medida da elaboração e apresentação dos respectivos planos de reestruturação, a fim de suportar as despesas decorrentes das iniciativas propostas,”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 3, § 1. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “acréscimo de recursos referido no inciso III será limitado a vinte por cento das despesas de custeio e pessoal da universidade, no período de cinco anos”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 3, § 3. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “O atendimento dos planos é condicionado à capacidade orçamentária e operacional do Ministério da Educação.”

  3. 3. According to a report of an MEC commission (Ordinance No. 126/2012), the first phase of the federal higher education expansion programs, called Expansão I, covered 2003 to 2007 and had as its main target bringing federal public higher education to the interior, which until 2002 had 45 federal universities and 148 campuses/units.

  4. 4. The report of the MEC commission, made up of representatives of Sesu/MEC, Andifes, UNE, and ANPG, states that Reuni results from the government's attempt to meet the demands and aspirations of various civil society entities for an expansion in the supply of places in federal higher education.

  5. 5. Under Decree 6,096/2007, it is up to the federal university to request to join, at any time, with a restructuring plan approved by its highest governing body, with university autonomy respected; the fulfillment of the plans depends on the budgetary and operational capacity of the MEC, and the expenses are charged to the MEC's appropriations.

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 4, caput and sole paragraph. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “plano de reestruturação da universidade que postule seu ingresso no Programa, respeitados a vocação de cada instituição e o princípio da autonomia universitária, deverá indicar a estratégia e as etapas para a realização dos objetivos referidos no art. 1 o . Parágrafo único. O plano de reestruturação deverá ser aprovado pelo órgão superior da instituição.”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 5, caput. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “ingresso no Programa poderá ser solicitado pela universidade federal, a qualquer tempo, mediante proposta instruída com:”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 3, § 3; art. 7. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “atendimento dos planos é condicionado à capacidade orçamentária e operacional do Ministério da Educação.”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 1, § 2. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Ministério da Educação estabelecerá os parâmetros de cálculo dos indicadores que compõem a meta referida no § 1”

  6. 6. Reuni was established by Decree No. 6,096 of April 24, 2007, issued by the President of the Republic in the exercise of the authority conferred by art. 84, item VI, subitem "a", of the Constitution; the decree provides that the expenses arising from it will be charged to the budget appropriations allocated annually to the Ministry of Education.

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: preamble. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “PRESIDENTE DA REPÚBLICA , no uso da atribuição que lhe confere o art. 84, inciso VI,”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 7. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Art. 7 o As despesas decorrentes deste decreto correrão à conta das dotações orçamentárias anualmente consignadas ao Ministério da Educação.”

  7. 7. Under Decree 6,096/2007, the proposal approved by the MEC gives rise to specific instruments that set the university's additional resources and tie the transfers to the completion of the plan's stages.

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 6. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Art. 6 o A proposta, se aprovada pelo Ministério da Educação, dará origem a instrumentos próprios, que fixarão os recursos financeiros adicionais destinados à universidade, vinculando os repasses ao cumprimento das etapas.”

  8. 8. Decree No. 6,096/2007 set as the overall target of Reuni the gradual increase of the average completion rate of in-person undergraduate courses to ninety percent and of the ratio of undergraduate students in in-person courses to teachers to eighteen, at the end of five years, counting from the start of each plan.

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 1, § 1. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “O Programa tem como meta global a elevação gradual da taxa de conclusão média dos cursos de graduação presenciais para noventa por cento e da relação de alunos de graduação em cursos presenciais por professor para dezoito, ao final de cinco anos, a contar do início de cada plano.”

  9. 9. Decree 6,096/2007 sets as guidelines of Reuni, among others, the reduction of dropout rates, the filling of idle places, and the increase of entry places, especially in the evening period, and the expansion of inclusion and student assistance policies; the fulfillment of the universities' plans is conditional on the budgetary and operational capacity of the Ministry of Education.

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 2, item I. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “I - redução das taxas de evasão, ocupação de vagas ociosas e aumento de vagas de ingresso, especialmente no período noturno;”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 2, item V. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “V - ampliação de políticas de inclusão e assistência estudantil; e”
    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: art. 3, § 3. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “O atendimento dos planos é condicionado à capacidade orçamentária e operacional do Ministério da Educação.”

  10. 10. In Table 9 of the first-year report, the total agreed for Reuni in 2008 (excluding Capes scholarships) was R$496,998,529 and the amount made available was R$491,882,340, 99% of the amount agreed (difference of R$-5,116,189).

  11. 11. In the federal budget open data (SIOP), action 8282 (Restructuring and Expansion of the Federal Universities - REUNI) records: in 2008, authorized appropriation of R$167,881,727, committed and liquidated of R$162,251,364, and paid in the fiscal year of R$38,603,727; in 2009, authorized of R$586,631,227, committed and liquidated of R$468,391,419, and paid of R$190,189,584; in 2010, authorized of R$803,031,724, committed and liquidated of R$724,376,943, and paid of R$353,379,531. Nominal values. The 2012 report of the MEC commission cites action 8,282 as the budget action of Reuni.

  12. 12. The report of the commission established by the MEC (Ordinance No. 126/2012) presents, in Table I (Budget resources of the expansion program 2005-2012, source Sesu/MEC), the operating and investment budget resources allocated to the federal university expansion programs: R$67,481,106 in 2005, R$1,745,705,690 in 2010, and R$9,996,296,234 in the grand total for 2005 to 2012.

  13. 13. According to the first-year report of Reuni (MEC/SESu, 2009), there were 54 federal universities in operation in 2007 and 53 submitted adhesion projects; UFABC, created in 2005, did not participate because it already adopted the pedagogical innovations advocated by the program.

  14. 14. The first-year report of Reuni records that, with 2007 as the reference (132,451 places in in-person undergraduate courses), the projects agreed to 146,762 places for 2008 and the federal universities offered 147,277 places in 2008, an increase of 14,826 places (execution source: PingIFES).

    • Reuni 2008 – Relatório de Primeiro Ano (arquivo original arquivado no Internet Archive, endereço id_) · Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES) Official record
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured January 5, 2012); original address: portal.mec.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES).
      Where: p. 6, item 3 (text above Table 1). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Considerando 2007 como ano referencial, quando o número de vagas em cursos presenciais de graduação totalizava 132.451, os projetos institucionais pactuaram um aumento para 146.762, o que representa acréscimo de 11%. No entanto, essa meta foi superada e em 2008 as universidades federais ofertaram um total de 147.277 vagas, o que equivale a um aumento de 14.826 novas vagas”
    • Reuni 2008 – Relatório de Primeiro Ano (arquivo original arquivado no Internet Archive, endereço id_) · Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES) Official record
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured January 5, 2012); original address: portal.mec.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES).
      Where: p. 6, source of Table 1. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “FONTE: Coleta PingIFES (dados de execução) e Simulador REUni/SIMEC (dados de pactuação).”

  15. 15. For 2008, the participating universities agreed to 3,459 positions (1,821 faculty and 1,638 technical staff); as of the date of the report, 1,560 faculty positions and 1,275 administrative technical positions had been filled.

    • Reuni 2008 – Relatório de Primeiro Ano (arquivo original arquivado no Internet Archive, endereço id_) · Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES) Official record
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured January 5, 2012); original address: portal.mec.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES).
      Where: p. 8, item 6. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Para o exercício de 2008 as 53 universidades federais que apresentaram projetos de adesão ao Programa Reuni”
    • Reuni 2008 – Relatório de Primeiro Ano (arquivo original arquivado no Internet Archive, endereço id_) · Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES) Official record
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured January 5, 2012); original address: portal.mec.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Ministry of Education, Secretariat of Higher Education (SESu/DIFES).
      Where: p. 8, item 6 (continued). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “um montante de 3.459 cargos, sendo 1.821 de docentes e 1.638 técnicos. Desse total, 1.560 cargos docentes e 1.275 cargos de técnicos administrativos já foram nomeados.”

  16. 16. According to the MEC commission report (2012), from 2003 to 2010 the number of federal universities rose from 45 to 59, an expansion of 31%.

  17. 17. The 2012 MEC commission report says that the number of municipalities served by federal universities rose from 114 to 272. The expansion page of the MEC's Reuni portal, which displays the date February 24, 2010, says that the number rose from 114 in 2003 to 237 by the end of 2011.

  18. 18. The MEC commission report (2012) presents, with Census/Inep as source, the places offered in in-person undergraduate courses at the federal universities: 109,184 in 2003 and 218,152 in 2010.

  19. 19. According to the study by Bergmann, Ribeiro, Niquito, and Teixeira (Análise Econômica, UFRGS, v. 38, n. 77, 2020), which applies difference-in-differences to a panel of municipalities with data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses and from Simec, the expansion of the federal universities and institutes between 2000 and 2010 showed positive evidence of impact and of synergies on the employment rate and on the formalization of jobs in the municipalities covered; the authors note that the short-term effects are not very strong.

  20. 20. In Report No. 33 on the Evaluation of the Execution of Government Programs (December 2014), the CGU, based on 88 works inspected at 40 universities between 2010 and 2012 (out of a universe of 889 Reuni works), found that 60 of the 73 works analyzed on this point (82.2%) had in their bidding notices at least one clause restricting competitiveness and that in 37.5% of the works (27) execution followed neither the physical nor the financial schedule.

  21. 21. The Reuni decree states as its basis the higher education expansion target in item 4.3.1 of the National Education Plan (Law No. 10,172/2001).

    • Decreto nº 6.096, de 24 de abril de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic (Planalto) Official legal act
      Where: preamble. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “considerando a meta de expansão da oferta de educação superior constante do item 4.3.1 do Plano Nacional de Educação, instituído pela Lei no 10.172, de 9 de janeiro de 2001, DECRETA:”

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