Caminhos e descaminhos da política pública arquivística: o Ministério da Educação e a regulação do acervo acadêmico

The objective of the research is to analyze the process of normative regulation of the academic collection of public and private Higher Education Institutions belonging to the Federal Education System. This process is understood as part of public archival policy. From 2013 onwards, the Ministry of Education published several Ordinances and Technical Notes regulating and providing guidance on the production and custody of the so-called academic collection. The documents were also the subject of a Federal Decree. The research methodology was based on the study of the norms regarding the academic aollection, which were examined in the light of archival concepts and the basic legislation of Brazilian public archival policy. The results of the research demonstrated the inaccuracy regarding the concept of academic aollection over time. The mismatch, or incongruity, between the concepts and procedures defined in the norms on academic collection and the archival theory, foreseen in the field literature, was also noticed. This mismatch hampered the implementation of public archival policy aimed at Higher Education Institutions, as the standards established by the MEC were marked by gaps, omissions, inaccuracies and conceptual flaws.