Objectives: to analyze the ways in which neoliberalism has consolidated itself in the public university and in university teaching in nursing; and what interferences it has produced in the pedagogical conceptions and practices of nurse educators.
Methods: this is a qualitative research based on Institutional Analysis and conducted in a public university.
Results: the data produced with the nursing teachers revealed the consolidation of the New Public Management in the university teaching of the professor-nurse, which is in contradiction with the formative assumptions for the Unified Health System.
Final considerations: it is noticeable how the university and the university teaching in nursing are already impregnated by neoliberal logic. This will possibly have repercussions on the training of professionals for the Unified Health System.