The process of institutionalization of the pedagogical project of undergraduate courses in Brazil

Abstract

Undergraduate courses at Higher Education Institutions in Brazil are increasingly sought after by students and their quality control has been a constant in the field. The Pedagogical Course Project then emerged as a tool used by managers to maintain the quality of these courses. However, the adherence to new practices in organizational environments is not an easy task. Faced with the gradual increase of students and many low grades in Higher Education Institutions around the country, there is still a lack of studies seeking to understand these distortions. To fill this gap, this work aims to analyze the process of institutionalization of the PPC among professors and coordinators of undergraduate courses throughout the country, using the model proposed by Tolbert and Zucker (1999). After a survey of 464 professors and coordinators of undergraduate courses in the country, the present work could verify a low adherence to the second stage of the model cited, the objectification, however with a high adherence to practices provided in the PPC, raising questions as a possible ceremonial practice and about the real effectiveness of the tool. The results show that adherence to the PPC occurred mainly in those tasks already institutionalized, leaving compliance unclear for those where a change in practice would be necessary.