Waiting for a new Qualis that doesn't arrive. What's going on with CAPES?

Abstract

The crisis involving the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) is the theme of the last column of 2021 by Professor Renato Janine Ribeiro. Known mainly for the scholarships and grants it grants, Capes' central axis is the evaluation of graduate studies, that is, master's and doctoral courses that make requests for resources. All of this is based on the quality assessment offered by them. Between 2004 and 2008, when Renato Janine was the evaluation director, this was done every three years. It is currently quadrennial.

The columnist explains that the evaluation criteria involve the production of advisors: are they active researchers? The pillar is based on the idea that only a researcher, a master or a doctor can train those who are researching. The second criterion is: are the advisors doing good work? The third is: is there a good distribution of research production and guidance among advisors?

The big problem, says Janine, is that there's been a big delay in all of this since last year. Capes has had three presidents in this current administration of the federal government. The four-year evaluation (2017-2020) should have been carried out in June/July 2021, but it was not, due to changes in the management of the body and the delay in defining several principles by the coordinator's presidency. There was also a controversial ordinance on how journals are evaluated and a suspension of evaluation due to a precarious judicial decision, which has now been reversed.

“This all creates a crisis, at the moment there is a relief because the four-year period can be carried out, but there are still outstanding points regarding Qualis (journals evaluation system), the dialogue between the presidency and the coordinators has to increase and it is necessary that we all together defend postgraduate studies in Brazil”, he points out.