Higher education politics and the graduation in Occupational Therapy at the Federal Institutions of Higher Education in Brazil

Introduction: Programs that integrate higher education policies recently adopted in Brazil, especially the Program of Support for the Restructuring and Expansion of Federal Universities (REUNI) and the Program National for the Reorientation Professional Training in Health (Pro-Saude), expanded courses and vacancies in Federal Institutions of Higher Education (IFES) and redirected the training of professionals working in the health sector, respectively, with implications also for the formation of occupational therapists. Objective: this article aims to present an overview of graduation courses in occupational therapy from IFES and contextualize the deployment process in the context of the REUNI and the Pro-Saude. Method: We interviewed the courses coordinators based on the survey and analysis of political-pedagogical projects of each of these courses. Results: The results indicated that the REUNI had a big impact in the area which was fundamental to the expansion process to graduation in occupational therapy in Brazil, especially for regions that had not public courses within that framework until then. On the other hand, the Pro-Saude has not had a significant impact on the vast majority of courses studied; its effect in the area was indirect. Conclusion: The courses are in agreement with the National Curriculum Guidelines for graduation in occupational therapy, however, becomes evident the need for discussion in the profession the elements that parameterize this formation, beyond that which shows up as central in the speeches and documents, mostly in reference of what is posited as a professional with generalist profile.