Between metric and meaning: self-evaluation as a management device for internationalization in graduate programs

Abstract

This article critically analyzes the tensions between regulatory requirements of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the construction of autonomous institutional policies for internationalization in Brazilian Graduate Programs (PPGs). It problematizes the reduction of internationalization to quantitative indicators, often dissociated from substantive academic formation and the institutional identity of programs. From a critical-theoretical approach, grounded in contributions from José Dias Sobrinho, Almerindo Janela Afonso, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, and recent international literature on internationalization for the global common good, the article proposes the resignification of institutional self-evaluation as a political-pedagogical and managerial device capable of distinguishing "passive internationalization" from "active internationalization", guided by the construction of institutional projects with epistemological density and social relevance. The methodology includes a theoretical-simulated case study of an excellence PPG, detailing participatory self-evaluation processes and contrasting its Strategic Planning with CAPES Evaluation Form. Results indicate that participatory self-evaluation constitutes an indispensable tool for overcoming institutional isomorphism, for strategic budgetary decision-making, and for building formative processes that transcend the logic of academic productivism.