This article looks at the topic – knowledge management as a co-operative device in the cotidy of higher education institutions. This discussion takes the view of different collaborators who disguise the subject. The text has been built in the virtual environment of the Internet in the following databases: www.scielo.com.br and www.bireme.br and books. By means of an exploratory reading, by examining the cover sheet, the bibliography indexes, the footnotes, the introduction, the preface (where it existed), the conclusions and the ears of the book, in order to ascertain whether the work had the subject matter of the search. There was a focus on carrying out analytical reading, the purpose of which was to order and summarise the information contained in the sources in such a way that it makes it possible to obtain answers to the search problem; and finally, the interpretative reading which was intended to relate what the author claims to the problem for which a solution is proposed. Keywords: knowledge management; HEI; higher education.