The Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) today announced the General Course Index (IGC), an annual evaluation of courses and Brazilian higher education institutions relating to 2011. 8,665 courses were evaluated to form the grades for 1,387 universities, colleges, and academic centers. According to the Minister of Education, Aloizio Mercadante, there was a general improvement in higher education over the last three years.

The IGC is an index that evaluates undergraduate and postgraduate (masters and doctorates) courses and uses the weighted average of the Preliminary Course Concept (CPC) for undergraduate courses, and the CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) grade for graduate courses.

In 2011, courses were evaluated in the areas of sciences and teaching degrees, in addition to technological courses involving industrial control and processes, information and communication, infrastructure and industrial production. Each area of knowledge is evaluated by the IGC every three years.

According to the ICG, 27% of the courses did not achieve sufficient performance with respect to Ministry of Education parameters and received grades 1 and 2. The minimum grade of the institution required to participate in policies, such as the University for All Program (ProUni) and the Student Financing Fund (FIES), is 3. If the target is not reached, the institution may be penalized.

Mercadante, found that between 2008 and 2011 there was a "general" improvement in the quality of courses and institutions. In the previous evaluation of these areas in 2008, 28.4% of the 2,128 evaluated institutions received grades 1 and 2 and 1% of institutions reached the maximum grade of 5. In 2011, this figure rose to 1.3%.

"The evaluation and the instruments of economic policy that accompany the evaluation, such as ProUni and FIES, promoted the improvement in teaching quality. (...) The conclusion is that there were significant developments in higher education at all levels in universities, colleges and academic centers."

According to Mercadante, the ministry will be strict in penalizing institutions which remained at levels considered insufficient. The minister promised to disclose information on the universities that did not meet minimum standards next week. "An institution that had a grade of 1 and still has a grade of 1 is unacceptable, period. We will look carefully at those who remain stagnant during the three-year cycle. We will take additional measures, not limited to such institutions no longer having access to ProUni and FIES," he said.

In addition to the IGC, the Preliminary  Course Concept (CPC), which evaluates undergraduate courses exclusively, was also released. The index took into consideration 4,403 universities (1,761 public and 2,642 private) in addition to 2,245 colleges and 928 academic centers. Currently, 53.9% of matriculations in higher education are in universities, 30.9% in colleges and 13.7% in academic centers. According to the Ministry of Education, there was a significant improvement in higher education courses.

The CPC evaluates the performance of students, infrastructure and the faculty. The grade considers student performance through the National Student Performance Examination (ENADE), representing 55% of the total, while infrastructure represents 15% and the faculty, 30%. In the grade given to the faculty, the number of staff with a master's degree weighs 15% of the total, with those in full-time employment and those possessing a doctorate representing 7.5% each.

11 December 2012