Postgraduate in Social Sciences receives a high level of recommendation

The Postgraduate Program in Social Sciences (PPGCS), linked to the Center for Human Sciences, Letters and Arts (CCHLA/UFRN), was recognized in the 2017-2020 Quadrennial Assessment by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) as high level, solidified with a score of 4 on a scale of 1 to 7. The concept represents not only a good performance, but also a true overcoming for the PPGCS, which, in the previous evaluation, in the period 2014-2017, had received a grade of 3. The objective improvement is a reflection of a collective effort undertaken by the PPGCS team in the search for a broad and strengthened representation of scientific production within the University.
PPGCS Coordinator, Orivaldo Pimentel Lopes Junior says that, since the period of the last evaluation, there has been an intense process of modifying internal policies, including expansion in hiring, changes in the subject framework and implementation of affirmative actions in selection processes.
“All these factors, linked to the work of the team of secretaries, scholarship holders and volunteers coordinated by the PPGCS secretary, Otânio Costa, in collecting quantitative data from 2012 to 2020 on teachers, students and graduates of the Capes Sucupira Platform Program, were key elements in increasing the evaluation”, says Orivaldo Pimentel.
A great highlight in this trajectory, according to him, were the master's and doctoral students. With encouragement and guidance from the teaching staff, the scientific production of the student group was increased, placing PPGCS in the first place in technical and bibliographical intellectual production of students among the 51 postgraduate programs in the area of ​​Social Sciences in Brazil.
In other milestones achieved at the student level, even within the Programs in the same area, PPGCS is in fourth place in the intellectual production of books and periodicals and in seventh place in the average production of graduates. "Our students were greatly affected by the previous assessment, but we also highlight the factors that made us improve our grade. We hope that, with the improvement of the assessment, we can provide more assistance and further encourage students to stay and complete the Program", reinforces the coordinator.
The application of self-evaluation and self-criticism, teamwork and support from the University through the Dean of Postgraduate Studies are listed by Orivaldo as the fundamental factors in overcoming the PPGCS.
The improvement of the Program's recommendation, in addition to numbers, exemplifies how scientific production and academic autonomy can be strengthened through collective exercise, building a more concrete future for the trajectories that permeate the university environment. “In this way, with encouragement from Capes’ own evaluation area, the Program is moving towards excellence in its fiftieth anniversary to be celebrated in 2028”, envisages the professor.