Evaluating higher education in Brazil: the system implemented by the federal government and the use of its results in institutional management

• Grant number: 14/16209-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2014
• End date: October 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Educational Planning and Evaluation
• Principal Investigator: Celia Maria Haas
• Grantee: Celia Maria Haas
• Host Institution: Pró-Reitoria de Pós-Graduação, Pesquisa e Extensão. Universidade Cidade de São Paulo (UNICID). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The National System of Higher Education - SINAES, implemented nationwide by the federal government, is reaching ten years of establishment in 2014. Evaluation of teaching systems is considered round the world a major tool for managing education, widely turned to by authorities seeking to regulate public policies in this field. Due to SINAES importance, this research intends to clearly delineate the evaluation system adopted to gauge Brazilian higher education and to describe premises, profiles and guidelines, comparing how higher-education institutions recourse to SINAES in order to lay out their management plans. The study will comprise the analysis of the legislation on the subject, extending to the perusal of the set of documents produced by state and private higher-education institutions, besides interviews with college managers and chairmen of Internal Evaluation Commissions (CPA). Methodological procedures concentrate on policy evaluation, particularly the analysis of implementing and using the results both from state and private institutions, which demanded a close literature review, an up-dating of the researches into the theme, the collection and analysis of the data available in official archives and also the reports of academic managers. The author expects to contribute with the reflections on the evaluation systems in force by encouraging the discussion of their possible effects on higher-education management. (AU)