Transparência pública: um estudo de caso na Universidade Estadual da Paraíba

Abstract

The right of access to public information was neglected throughout Brazilian public administration history, and it was only guaranteed recently, in 1988, by the constitutional text. Brazilian Federal Constitution established the publicity principle, which contains the characteristic of public transparency, and guarantees to every citizen the access to information. The access to information plays an essential role in the exercise of citizenship, through Public Administration social control, imposing limits on public administrators. The Law on Access to Information, adopted in 2011, and regulated, in Paraíba, through the State Decree 33.050/2012, is a major tool available for society to ask for public transparency and for access to public interest information. The purpose of this study is to analyze public transparency in Paraíba State University (UEPB). This research is a descriptive, exploratory and qualitative case study, with a theoretical foundation built based on a documentary and bibliographical research, and the instruments used for data collection were a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, which were submitted to a content analysis process. After analyzing the results and comparing them with the theoretical basis of this research, we observed a high level of compliance with LAI in UEPB through the State Decree 33.050/2012, meeting the main legislation provisions, a fact that does not confirm the assertive that every public institution follows the same standards. This research is not a conclusion of UEPB's public transparency process, as it is a continuous and evolving process. Although, we found a favorable environment to the practical application of State Decree 33.050/2012 in this institution, it does not ensure that, in future administrations, the process will move towards ethics, transparency, respect for citizens and society. Therefore, academic community and Paraíba's society must remain vigilant, exercising their citizenship through social control, so that they can keep track of public transparency in this educational heritage of Paraíba.