Higher Education Forum Volume 16
published_at 2019-03

Assessment and Curricular Policies of Higher Education in Brazil: Enhancing both performance and cultural diversity?

Ivenicki Ana
fulltext
288 KB
HigherEducationForum_16_85.pdf
Abstract
The present paper posits that in culturally diverse societies such as Brazil the value of cultural diversity within higher education institutions, faculties, and students has begun to gain momentum as a relevant dimension in the assessment of quality, performance, and productivity. In order to develop this argument, it first reviews the supporting literature, offering an overview of the institutional structures of higher education in Brazil and its quality assessment practices. It then analyses how multicultural aims may or may not have been articulated in the assessment of performance and productivity in Brazilian higher education policies, as gleaned from the National Plan for Education (Presidency of Republic, 2014), and recent debates around curriculum reform. It discusses the extent to which higher education policies in Brazil have tried to tackle the twin objectives of enhancing performance while also valuing cultural diversity and inclusion in their quality control strategies. The study may have global implications; as international mobility increases societies around the globe should be prepared to value both performance and diversity in their assessment exercises and curricular policies.
Descriptions
An initial presentation was made of this present paper at the 14th Higher Education Reform Workshop 26-28 September 2017, Hiroshima University, Japan.
Keywords
Brazil
HE policy
evaluation
multicultural education
National Plan for Education