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The present paper intends to investigate if there is, and if it exists, the depth of the relationship between the consolidation of higher education in Brazil and the culture of higher education enforced nowadays. The first graduation course was inaugurated in 1808, with the foundation of the School of Surgery and Anatomy in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, and until now, even after the proclamation of Brazilian independence, continues aiming to provide manpower skills to fulfill liberal and manpower skills for the state bureaucracy. The pragmatic disdain for areas considered futile or unnecessary in a State that aimed to reach a certain level of production and industrialization was not only present in colonial culture but also in public policies to promote courses and research between fields of study considered essential or nonessential, in the 21st century; as well as the centralization of chair decisions in the hands of the Emperor and the reserving of the rector's free choice by the head of the Executive (federal or state) are tangible remnants of an alienating national project. In order to achieve these objectives, historical studies will be analyzed on the discussions during the implementation of higher education courses in Brazil, as well as the courses authorized to operate and documents of university deliberations from the beginning of the 19th century, as well as the direction of the research funding notices launched, and public policies for access to higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]