University participation in defense of the Unified Health System

ABSTRACT One of the essential achievements of Health Reform was social participation, the main driver for promoting equality, given that, through this, different groups in health have gained a voice, a valuable precept of the democratic base. In the university context, the theme has been incorporated in several aspects, forming an environment that polarizes opinions and provides reflections that corroborate, or contradict, those of the reform and consolidation of the Unified Health System (SUS). Thus, this study aimed to investigate and discuss the participation of university students in order to defend and strengthen the SUS. This is a field study, of the exploratory descriptive type with a qualitative approach, using a semi-structured interview for data collection, and the IRaMuTeQ software for processing. For the appreciation, the thematic categorical analysis proposed by Minayo was followed. Satisfactory knowledge was observed regarding the importance of social participation in a context of social movements, however, active participation does not occur in a desired way even if it is at conferences and health councils. Despite the weaknesses, a new horizon is envisaged in which the university is a space that consolidates this principle of SUS.