The article focuses on the conditions in which research in Higher Education is carried out in Brazil, at the level of Post Graduate Studies in our Universities. The main concern is the assessment process of the post graduate courses supervised by CAPES. After a brief presentation of the emergence and recent evolution of the country's Post Graduate Studies in Education, principles, procedures and effects of the evaluative process are related to a culture of performativity, as conceived by the British researcher Stephen Ball. It is argued that such category is helpful to the analysis of CAPES evaluation. In the final comments, the environment of Post Graduate courses, characterized by a culture of performativity, is compared to the way teachers have been reacting to and experiencing recent curricular reforms, according to Ivor Goodon's recent research. Possible alternatives are then sought of.
Post Graduate Studies; Evaluation; Culture of Performativity