Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Two sides of the same coin: a comparative case study of students’ perceptions in two public universities (Portugal and Brazil) about higher education quality assessment

ABSTRACT

Students’ perceptions of quality assessment in higher education and aspects of the process are a glaring gap in the literature. Through a comparative study, we analysed the perception of students from two public universities, one in Portugal and one in Brazil, on these evaluative practices. The study involved 300 university students (50% from Portugal; 50% from Brazil). The results reveal that the students from both contexts know the evaluated quality indicators and the institutions responsible for the evaluation process in their countries (Agência de Avaliação e Acreditação do Ensino Superior — A3ES in Portugal; Sistema Nacional de Avaliação da Educação Superior/ Ministério de Educação e Cultura — SINAES/MEC in Brazil). On the other hand, 89.3% of the students from Portugal and 86.7% of the students from Brazil report that they have no knowledge about this process. Moreover, a considerable part of the participants (75.3% Portuguese, 59.3% Brazilians) report not having participated in this process, showing the two sides of the same coin. The results are discussed, and some considerations are presented.

Keywords:
Student Perceptions; Quality Assessment; Higher Education; Comparative Case Study

ANPEd - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação Rua Visconde de Santa Isabel, 20 - Conjunto 206-208 Vila Isabel - 20560-120, Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brasil, Tel.: (21) 2576 1447, (21) 2265 5521, Fax: (21) 3879 5511 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: rbe@anped.org.br