Brazilian Federal universities were directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring educational changes and new teaching policies. The role of universities in society go far beyond the classroom, and with the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this role has intensified with social policies and actions developed thinking about the welfare of the community in which it is inserted. The objective of this study was to carry out a survey using a systematic literature review to identify the educational scenarios of public higher education in Brazil designed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Methodi Ordinatio was used which ranked the main studies. The search was conducted in four bibliographic databases: Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, and Emerald. With the application of the systematic literature review, it was possible to find out that Brazilian federal universities played a key role, with actions in the community to which they belong, namely: activities carried out to clarify the community about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, information about prophylactic care, community care services, food distribution, diagnostics, development of applications and portals, research activities carried out by teachers for the development of vaccines, production, and manufacture of materials and equipment such as alcohol gel, personal protective equipment, cleaning materials and maintenance of hospital equipment, reinforcing the important role played by universities.