Presentation
In 2019, the Dean of Postgraduate Studies ( PRPG ) of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) constituted a Commission made up of postgraduate professors and students , as well as members of the Own Assessment Commission (CPA), to start the institutional process of Self-Assessment of Graduate Programs , based on the recommendation of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
Since the UFRPE's mission is "to build and disseminate knowledge and innovation, through teaching, research and extension activities, attentive to the aspirations of society", the self-assessment process will enable Institutional Planning related to the growth and consolidation of the Postgraduate Program . Graduation , with academic quality and social responsibility, aiming to contribute to the resolution of problems that affect society and the environmental conditions of the State of Pernambuco and the Northeast Region.
The study was based on the model developed by another higher education institution, which consisted of personalized questionnaires for the STUDENTS, TEACHERS and TECHNICIANS IN ADMINISTRATION linked to the PPGs. Then, the questionnaires, adapted by the Commission to the particularities of UFRPE, were sent to the coordination of Graduate Programs (PPGs), for knowledge and suggestions. After making the suggested adjustments, the PRPPG transformed the questionnaires into electronic forms and sent them to the PPGs coordinators, for later forwarding to their students, professors and administrative technicians (EXECUTION PHASE).
After the period established for execution, the data obtained from each PPG were sent separately to their respective coordination, with the objective of carrying out the analysis and dissemination of the results (ANALYSIS and DISCLOSURE PHASE). In the same way, PRPPG analyzed the data set of all PPGs, which resulted in the preparation of the I SELF-EVALUATION REPORT OF UFRPE's GRADUATE PROGRAMS ( www.prppg.ufrpe.br ). This document will guide the actions of the PRPPG, aiming to improve the management of the Post - Graduation and the research carried out at the institution and to consolidate itself as a reference in its different areas of activity.
We also see some points that we plan to improve. We need, for example, to increase exchanges with other institutions, receive students to take courses in our program and send students to take courses in other regions. In 2017, we worked on encouraging our students to participate in public notices for sandwich internships. In 2018, two students took the Sandwich Internship abroad (France and New Zealand) . In previous years, despite the efforts of the coordination, a low number of students were interested in this type of activity. Despite this, the program remains focused on filling this gap, especially with the approval of the Print-CAPES public notice.
We have few scholarships in the program, and, considering the Doctoral course, the management of scholarships is restricted to a time frame of four years. The low number of scholarships is undoubtedly a limiting factor in attracting new students. Therefore, we envisage requesting more scholarships through Call Notices from CNPq/CAPES/FACEPE, among others.
We believe that we can update the discipline table. We also envision strengthening the offer of disciplines with analytical characteristics, such as the disciplines offered in 2019 on niche modeling and general linear models offered by professors from UFMT and UFMS, respectively.
Program Overview
The Graduate Program in Ethnobiology and Nature Conservation was created in 2011, with the proposal aimed at training professionals in the nature/culture interface. It initially received concept 4, rising to 5 in the first CAPES assessment. In this evaluation, the program has been adopting strategies aimed at ascending to concept 6, and for that, it has been trying to adjust itself to meet the excellence criteria established by CAPES, especially with regard to important evaluation aspects, such as: management policies, infrastructure , internationalization goals, teacher-student relationship, mentor-student relationship and student performance.
In the course of its existence, the PPGEtno has obtained an outstanding scientific production in number and quality, which in some periods was concentrated in a part of the professors. Thus, the program has adopted strategies to make this production more homogeneous among its faculty, which represents a challenge considering the nature of the program and the diversity of universities that comprise it. In addition, efforts have been made to enhance student/teacher integration in the production of the program.
The procedures for evaluating the performance of professors have been carried out based on CAPES guidelines, which guide the strategies adopted. Among these are the periodic accreditation and de-accreditation of professors, aiming to maintain professors with outstanding production and attract new productive professors, seeking to maintain a greater balance between the program's research lines. The offer of disciplines in the program has been updated, based on the evaluation of professors and students, always seeking to provide more disciplines that help in the research carried out in the program, as well as the associated scientific production. To improve internationalization, the coordination has encouraged the establishment of partnerships with foreign researchers, the attraction of students from other countries, the participation of foreign researchers in the disciplines of the program, participation of professors in international events and various academic activities. In summary, these are among the main actions to overcome the limitations that have emerged throughout the program's existence to adjust to the changes in criteria that have been adopted by CAPES in its periodic evaluations.
Self-Assessment Strategy
The self-assessment process is based on strategic planning, collection and analysis of information from students, alumni, professors and technicians about their visions of the Program in various aspects, contributing to the construction of the PPGEtno's strategic planning and the evaluation of the goals established in the beginning of each quadrennium. This process will be aligned with the goals and objectives of the Program, with the CAPES evaluation form for the Biodiversity area and with the Institutional Development Plan of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (PPGEtno Headquarters Institution). In this sense, our self-assessment considers the following aspects:
(1) Aspects related to the Program, such as updating and adequacy of research lines, ongoing research projects and disciplines with the area of concentration, program proposal and graduate profile; adequacy of infrastructure, such as secretariat, classrooms, internet access, equipped laboratories, in order to assist the development of the program's research lines, highlighting the performance of technicians for the proper progress of activities; adequacy of the faculty to the program's proposal, evaluating the proportion of permanent and collaborating professors and the proportion of professors with completed guidance and subjects taught in the program in each quadrennium; evaluation of the Program's strategic planning, based on the projected goals, considering its adequacy to the Institutional Development Plan of UFRPE and the need for integration between technicians, professors and students for the evaluation of the planning; evaluation of the criteria and processes of accreditation and re-accreditation of permanent professors of the Program, in each quadrennium.
(2) Aspects related to student training, such as a constant assessment, together with the students, of the subjects offered (adequacy of the menus to favor skills and abilities in the training of professionals capable of integrating aspects related to nature and society in their performances ; insertion of subjects aligned with the Program's proposal and lines of research) and in relation to the performance of professors and coordination to favor student education, considering the quality of the theses/dissertation guidelines; evaluation of the relationship of theses and dissertations with the proposal and lines of research of the Program, quantifying the quality of products (articles), based on CAPES metrics, directly linked to theses/dissertations; evaluation of graduating students regarding their professional performance, their adherence to the profile of the graduates of the Program and the importance of training at PPGEtno for their professional performance; quantification of cases of evasion and an assessment of the reasons associated with these cases.
(3) Aspects associated with intellectual production, considering the articles produced together with students of the Program and their quality, derived from theses/dissertations, it is also important to evaluate the main productions of professors and how much this production involves students; evaluation of the quality of articles published in the quadrennium, according to CAPES metrics and books, book chapters, technical productions, patent registrations, among others;
(4) Assessment of the social, cultural and economic impact of the Program, based on products derived from theses/dissertations and other actions proposed or supported by the Program, considering the impacts of actions that favor potential changes in one or more areas of society and at one or more scales (local, regional, national or international).
(5) Aspects related to internationalization, evaluating partnerships with programs or institutions from other countries, holding disciplines and events in partnership with other programs/institutions, intellectual production with researchers from other countries and student exchange between programs/institutions.
Based on the aspects mentioned above, our self-assessment involves both the quality of student education and the Program's intellectual production, its social, cultural and economic impact and its internationalization, as the guiding axes of the process.
procedures
The PPGEtno self-assessment, in the 2021-2025 quadrennium, will take place in annual cycles, using questionnaires with the entire community and at the annual integration meeting with professors, students and technicians. On that occasion, the main aspects of the self-assessment strategies, listed above and in the strategic planning, will be the object of continued analysis and reflection. An internal commission, made up of representatives of technicians, students, professors and graduates, will focus on the analysis of these data to produce detailed reports that will be analyzed by the academic community. These reports must contain a qualitative-quantitative analysis of our progress, with express recommendations for course correction if necessary.
In addition, obviously, the self-assessment must consider advances in relation to strategic planning, contemplating specific quali-quantitative aspects of measuring academic/professional/personal success of our academic community.
In relation to students
The program currently has mechanisms for monitoring the quality of the work through follow-up activities from project design to the presentation of partial data. In addition, the program has always been concerned with the theoretical and methodological instrumentation of students, offering disciplines related to the elaboration of scientific questions, writing of works and construction of projects. The self-assessment in the quadrennium will collect data from the perspective of students and teachers, the effectiveness of these strategies to improve the quality of products and professional training. Objective measures of success consist of publishing products derived directly from the thesis in high-quality vehicles; student involvement in social insertion actions and popularization of their research, when relevant. Qualitative measures refer to subjective well-being and satisfaction with the work performed and the quality of interpersonal relationships established in the Program. By identifying challenges in this last aspect, the Program can act by promoting events or actions aimed at improving the quality of relationships in professional environments.
Regarding teachers and technicians
A very similar strategy to the previous one will guide the monitoring of success among professors and technicians. Obviously, the teacher's success is related to the quality of the orientations and interpersonal relationships that he establishes in the community, as well as the quality of his performance in teaching. Self-assessment considers the anonymous and continuous assessment, at the end of each academic semester, of the subjects by the students in order to identify weaknesses. But we understand that the evaluation cannot have a punitive character, but an educational one, so that the professors will become aware of their performance and will get support from the coordination with suggestions for aligning their practice with the expectations of the Program and students. In this way, identified problems that cannot be circumvented, whether in the context of teaching or the quality of guidance, the Program must take initiatives that preserve the objectives of graduate studies, the quality of teaching and research, and the mental health of the community. In this way, these data will be associated with subjective measures of well-being and mental health, both of professors and technicians, in order to allow a diagnosis of the academic environment of PPGETno. These qualitative measures will take place in annual cycles coinciding with the end of academic activities. The quality of technical support will be objectively measured by meeting the demands strictly related to the activities of a graduate program in its research, teaching and extension activities. In this regard, to avoid excess charges and demands, a calendar/program of activities must be established in time with their respective demands and delivery expectations.
Regarding the PPGEtno
The success of PPGEtno is inexorably linked to the aforementioned success, which reverberates in its mission, vision and strategic objectives. We will objectively assess the success of the program through quantitative performance/monitoring indicators:
1) Follow-up of graduates and whether they work in compatibility with the training they had in the Program;
2) Monitoring the quality of the work carried out and its alignment with the program's objectives;
3) Monitoring training and dropout and completion rates. However, they will receive special attention, monitoring the innovation and social insertion of our results. Not that the other aspects are unimportant, as they are already part of the program's current flow of activities and routine, but innovation and social inclusion are at the heart of the Program's proposal.