Abstract
Objective: To describe the level of knowledge of students of a federal university in the Northeast about malignant breast cancer. Methods: This is a descriptive, exploratory and quantitative research. The research was carried out with students from the Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Social Work, Geography and Mathematics courses Data were collected after approval of the project by the Research Ethics Committee under number 65966217.6.0000.5013. Results: The study showed the knowledge acquired within the university, where only the Nursing course has students who say they are informed about the subject. Conclusion: It was identified that the majority of university students had information on the subject, but it was not the university that provided this knowledge. In this context, it is essential to rethink the practices of education and knowledge propagation, in addition to it being essential that the university invests in means of transformation through strategies that lead to health promotion and form citizens who can disseminate knowledge, in addition to democratizing access to information in the university environment.