This text aims to help understanding the elaboration of the university reform in 1968 and the action of one specific group, formed by some members of the Federal Education Council, which had significant participation in the elaboration of the university reform, though this is not traditionally taken into account by researches. In order to demonstrate that, in the military government, there was some disagreement about the ways the university reform should be carried out, we make a comparison between the report produced by the Meira Mattos Commission and the one produced by the University Reform Work Group. We conclude that the Council, or at least part of it, used its political ability to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the context and to participate, from the backstage, in the elaboration of the university model implanted Brazil in the 1960s.
University reform; Federal Education Council; University