Concepções de qualidade nos documentos oficiais sobre a Educação Superior

Abstract

This paper is a result of a research that aimed to identify the concept of quality in official documents and legal provisions published between 2003 and 2013. The material was selected in MEC’s website Portal Domínio Público and INEP’s website. In this survey, a total of 27 documents were found. In order to analyze the use of concepts of quality, documents were organized in five cathegories: Quality as a basis for legal grounding; Quality that references institutional evaluation; Quality as a social relevance; When quality is excellence; Quality based on rates and indicators. Thus, this article aims to contribute towards elaborating public policies, highliting the importance of defining the concept of quality that is used, with due understanding of its possible implications. Analysis shows that there is no unique definition of what quality is, but a fluctuation in the use of the term, which varies from a “formative-educative” vision to a “managerialist” vision.