As políticas de educação superior: novos modos de regulação e seus desdobramentos nos cursos de graduação em Odontologia (1995-2008)

• Ano de defesa: 2010
• Autor(a) principal: Maria Ines Barreiros Senna
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; UFMG
• Palavras-chave em Português: odontológico; Educação superior Regulação Políticas educacionais Ensino; Educação; Ensino superior; Odontologia Estudo e ensino; Educação Políticas públicas
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/FAEC-8GAHJT

Recent public policies regarding higher education have led to significant changes in the education model for dentists in Brazil. The expansion of undergraduate teaching has been one of the topics that have most mobilized different social actors in the academic and professional field of dentistry. The aim of the present thesis was to analyze the new regulation modes for higher education policies in Brazil in the context of undergraduate courses in dentistry. A documental survey was carried out with a focus on legislation regarding the expansion and democratization of higher education during the Cardoso (1995-2002) and Lula da Silva (2003-2008) administrations. A quantitative/ qualitative investigation was carried out. The quantitative approach involved the analysis of data from secondary sources: Higher Education Census (1995-2008), Dental Student Socioeconomic Questionnaire (National Student Performance Exam, 2004 and 2007) and summaries of National Board of Education/Chamber of Higher Education (NBE/CHE) documents (1997-2007) on the authorization process and recognition of undergraduate dentistry courses. The qualitative approach involved interviews with three social actors who worked on the definition of expansion policies of dental teaching in the realm of the NBE/CHE and five coordinators of dentistry courses in the city of Belo Horizonte. Education legislation was an important instrument for the materialization and operationalization of the actions and concepts of these administrations with regard to the expansion and democratization of access to higher education in Brazil. The interactions and conflicts of different subjects regarding these rules in different regulation venues were also analyzed. In the context of NBE/CHE, the results demonstrate divergence between the criteria used for opening/recognizing undergraduate dentistry courses by the NBE/CHE and Secretary of Higher Education/Ministry of Education on one side and the Commission of Specialists and National Board of Health on the other. However, the results also indicate convergence between these actors, which may be evaluated in the period studied by the large percentage (53%) of authorization requests for opening dentistry courses that were rejected. In this context, a further aim of the present thesis was to analyze the tendencies of the expansion of undergraduate teaching in dentistry. The results reveal the main characteristics of the broadening of the offer in terms of courses (112%), positions available (124%), enrollees (61%), tuition (35%) and those concluding the course (25%). This expansion mainly occurred in the private sector and was accompanied by new education markets beyond the southern and southeastern regions of the country, a tendency toward diversification in the training offer (especially with the establishment of new undergraduate courses at university centers and dental schools) and a reduction in the competitiveness of the selection processes for the field of dentistry, considering the large reduction in the candidate/position ratio (51%). There was a slight tendency toward a greater social and racial heterogeneity among dental students. The interviews with the coordinators of the courses revealed the effects of the expansion in the offer of dentistry education in the city of Belo Horizonte, such as the reduction in the demand for the course, greater heterogeneity in the socio-demographic composition of the students and greater hierarchization between the courses/universities through institutional diversification and differentiation as well as mechanisms of external evaluation. These effects have caused a change in the reigning offer-based mode of regulation to a demand-based mode of regulation. There has been the establishment of interdependence between the courses/ universities, which is thereby configured as a new venue of local regulation marked by competition regarding students the course either want to hold onto or attract. Thus, the courses/universities have developed strategies such as the diversification of the student selection/recruitment process and offer and seek to differentiate their education offer by means of the adoption of new teaching methods and content, qualification of the teaching staff, etc.