Rede urbana e a interiorização do Ensino Superior e da formação de professores na Região Metropolitana do Sudoeste Maranhense : condicionantes e desafios para o desenvolvimento regional.

Abstract

The recent and particular case of the internalization of Higher Education in the State of Maranhão converges to the creation of the State University of the Tocantina Region of Maranhão - UEMASUL in 2016, with effective autonomy in 2017 in the city of Imperatriz, second most relevant center in the state. This process has been accompanied, also in 2017, by the reformulation of the law of creation of the Metropolitan Region of Southwest Maranhense - RMSM which, among its guidelines and base of action, is the sharing of resources for education and qualification of human resources. Both movements are, undeniably, constituted from a historically circumscribed regional delimitation, but are also the result of political actions of regionalization, forces with a view to optimizing potentialities based on the expansion of higher education. And thus, they are centered in the city of Imperatriz, polarizing center of greater urban-regional expression, which represents in the midst of transformations arising, not only transformations in Teaching, Research, Extension and Innovation, but also in the constitution of spatial flows and migrations of students living in municipalities not contemplated with university facilities.The RMSM emerges as a creation of the Government of the State of Maranhão that, from its own strategies presents its own proposal for metropolization for 22 municipalities. The RMSM is thus structured from the urban-regional centrality of Imperatriz, is established by the connection of municipalities that are part of 4 immediate geographic regions and has in UEMASUL its main instrument of internalization of education, even if, its role, are not always clear in the guiding documents of the metropolitan region. The research establishes the internalization of higher education from Imperatriz as object of study and the municipalities of the RMSM the spatial cut. It is established in this way, as an unequivocal premise, the internalization of higher education as a relevant and fundamental strategy in regional development. Thus, this research aimed to understand how the interrelationships between the internalization of higher education in Maranhão, focusing on teacher training and the configuration of the urban network, condition and impact the development of the RMSM. Specifically, the research intended: a) to know the historical processes of territorial dismemberment of the municipalities that make up the RMSM and its relationship with the regional centrality of the city of Imperatriz; b) discuss the recent process of internalization of higher education in Maranhão; c) analyze the role of UEMASUL in the process of internalization of Higher Education in the RMSM; and d) identify the complex relationships of polarization and subordination in the urban network RMSM, from the teacher training courses established by UEMASUL. Methodologically, the research seeks from a quantitative approach, followed by qualitative examination to analyze official secondary data on higher education and recent transformations of this through the undergraduate courses of UEMASUL at RMSM. The data produced were systematized in the form of maps, graphs, four and tables and allowed to understand recent transformations of the role of the object institution in the study area.