In 1998, the "Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior" (CAPES) instituted the Post graduation Promotion Program (PROF) in order to provide the public educational institutions with higher autonomy in the management of the financial resources assigned to post graduation programs, and consequently higher efficiency and the course quality improvement. This study analyzes both efficiency and quality of the postgraduation programs in the educational institutions financed by PROF, during the triennium 2001/2003. So, mean tests were used in order to compare the performance of the programs financed by PROF with the performance of other programs. According to the results, the post graduation programs in the educational institutions that receive the PROF resources showed higher quality levels, relative to other programs. When analyzing the efficiency of the post graduation programs, it was observed the PROF-financed programs to show higher efficiency in 2001, 2002 and 2003 in relation to those financed by other supporting modalities.
Decentralization; Performance; Public administration
