This Tuesday (18), INEP (National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira) released the General Course Index (IGC) of 2066 higher education institutions in Brazil, based on indicators from the 2015-2017 triennium. It is the evaluation of our higher education, which should guide policies in the area.
In the press, the highlight is given to Unicamp, the best university in the country in this ranking. The good performance in ENADE (National Student Performance Exam) - one of the grades included in the IGC - had already been announced in last October. The IGC is an index composed of several indicators, combining undergraduate and postgraduate education, as can be seen in spreadsheet of notes with free access to the public.
The spreadsheet highlights the necessary distinctions, regarding academic organizations and administrative categories of institutions, to correctly evaluate the higher education scenario in Brazil. Universities, university centers and isolated colleges have distinct missions and purposes, which are influenced by their categories: public (federal, state, municipal) and private (for-profit and non-profit). In any country in the world, the flagship of higher education are universities, understood as comprehensive institutions (while university centers and colleges offer training restricted to some courses) and which combine teaching with research. In this sense, what is the framework that the IGC offers?
Among the 2066 higher education institutions in Brazil, 195 are universities, only 14 (7%) are in the maximum range (on a scale of 1 to 5) and all are public. Including universities in range 4, we reach 98 institutions, of which 64 (65%) are public (federal and state), 23 are private non-profit and 11 are private for-profit. The 64 public universities on this list are spread across the country, although still with a concentration in the south and southeast: 23 in the southeast region, 18 in the south region, 15 in the northeast region, 5 in the central-west region and 3 in the north region. However, there is an important absence: USP does not appear in this evaluation because it did not participate in ENADE during the three-year period.
Public university institutions top the list, while in the lower ranges, with concepts 1 and 2, the vast majority of institutions are private for-profit institutions. The minimum range in the ranking among universities is 3, with ranges 1 and 2 being considered below the appropriate quality threshold. As reported in the press, 278 institutions are in these classifications, including 274 colleges (isolated) and four university centers, 269 of which are private organizations, 136 of which are for-profit. Of the 9 public ones, 7 are municipal and 2 state. A reflective analysis of all the indicators that make up the IGC is necessary to understand these results and seek to qualify institutions according to their missions and scopes.
Scrutiny of these most recent data once again presents the differentiated role of public higher education in Brazil with its historical characteristics of quality and free tuition and commitment to excellence and inclusion.
Unicamp’s leadership: recognition and commitment
Unicamp repeats its first place in the IGC classification, which, together with its good positions in international rankings, indicates consistency in the assessment of its quality. According to professor Eliana Amaral, dean of undergraduate studies at Unicamp, “it is very important for Unicamp's undergraduate courses to have the support of this quality recognition given by the IGC, which INEP produces based on some indicators, ENADE being a of the components”.
This exam, for students who are completing their courses, used to be the target of boycott on different occasions, meaning that the grades recorded by INEP did not reflect the quality of the courses. The leadership achieved last year and maintained in this latest edition of the ranking, “demonstrates the growing commitment of the students involved in the exams, as well as the course coordinators and directors of the university's faculties and institutes in the clarification and awareness procedures so that the final value in ENADE reflected the real quality of the courses”, evaluates professor Amaral.
The inclusion of all courses in the maximum grade range guarantees automatic renewal of recognition with the State Education Council, a clear indication of their quality. Eliana Amaral concludes by drawing attention to the fact that “we are taking an important step to show the quality of Unicamp to society, which provides support for its operation”. An important aspect in this process is the “transparency of this quality assessment, as it is through an indicator (IGC) accessible and open to everyone”.
