The objective of this paper is to analyze the direct impacts (short-term) generated by the Federal University of Paraná, located in Palotina, and the Federal Technological University of Paraná, in Toledo, which adhered to the REUNI program, in the cities that host the universities and the influence of these impacts on the local economy. The decision of working with the economic effects of REUNI was taken due to the fact that the theme has been unexplored in academic research so far. It is assumed that the universities are institutions with economic relevance to the cities and they actively contribute to local development. The methodology is a comparative case study between the two institutions and the main data collection instrument was a questionnaire. The study expects to demonstrate that the universities are motor organizations of local economy.