Competências organizacionais para reconhecimento de curso a distância no ensino superior: um estudo sobre o instrumento unificado de avaliação do MEC

Abstract

Distance Education (DE) is a modality of education of relevant importance in the Brazilian educational context, since not only does it democratize education but it contributes to its expansion, reaching far away cities throughout Brazil. The number of educational organizations interested in getting accreditation to the offering of Graduation courses within this modality is growing. However, there are still no studies about MEC´s (Ministry of Education) assessment tool for Graduation courses, which was unified in December 2011 and updated in May 2012. The core challenge of this study was, then, to analyze this tool and identify essential competences which should be developed by the institutions and highlight the competences that are regarded as distinctive as they can give the institutions a competitive edge, as well as benefits to the students. In order to do so, was chosen a higher education private institution which is undergoing a process of changes determined by MEC to obtain accreditation for graduation courses within this modality. Questionnaires were sent to coordinators (specialists) and students (clients) of this institution. The result of the survey shows four main organizational competences developed by it: Course Evaluation Management, Strategic Management and Policies for DL, Human Resources and Multidisciplinary Teams Management, Technological and Physical Infrastructure Planning and Management. The main conclusion of this study suggests that developing these competences is essential to obtain accreditation from MEC and to get the approval from the character who plays the main role in the educational institution: the student.