Resumo:
ABSTRACT
In order to understand the transformations in higher education in the context of globalization
and internationalization, it is necessary to consider the evaluation practices in this educational
area. From the theoretical point of view there is a strong tension between two international
assessment trends, differentiation and homogenization, which form part of the evaluation
systems of Higher Education adopted in several countries and seem to be contradictory. The
first trend, differentiation, is associated with the appreciation of local contexts, to specific
institutions and with the strengthening of institutional values and missions with their own
vocations. The second trend emphasizes international review of homogenization and
standardization of assessment criteria, in consideration of the fact that the process of
globalization has led to very similar organizational systems in their formal policies and
structures. It is very important to understand the relations between the two models and the two
international trends, especially when it comes to an analysis which is not only theoretical, but
also based on the evaluation practices of national systems in two countries – Brazil and
Portugal – that have taken different paths, though presenting similarities with respect to this
topic. This research aims to analyze and compare the higher education evaluation systems in
both countries and identify common and different aspects, especially concerning the
characteristics of universality and specificity in the evaluation practices. In order to perform
this analysis, a bibliographic study was conducted and qualitative information was collected
under a relatively open, flexible planning approach, by means of semi-structured interviews.
Eighteen interviewees participated, nine from Brazil and nine from Portugal, constituting a
representative sample of prominent experts dealing with the conception and implementation
of the evaluation systems in both countries. A case study was carried out so patterns of
similarities and differences could be identified, considering that categories of analysis
selected. The main results indicate that standardized evaluation has become an important tool
for the implementation of the educational agenda in both countries, to the detriment of
appraisals of institutional differentiations. Nevertheless, the Portuguese higher education
institutions have been granted more autonomy to develop their internal evaluation processes,
whereas in Brazil educative and regulative evaluation have overlapped within the same
system, which has caused tensions and difficulties concerning the understanding of the goals
and objectives of both evaluation modalities. In Portugal the separation is more noticeable,
since they constitute different yet complementary steps. Also, in Brazil there is a low level of
internationalization and still very little no integration with the system of other Mercosur
countries. In Portugal, evaluation focuses primarily on the courses in general, with no
mechanism to undertake a strategic review of each institution as an organizational entity.