Plataforma tecnológica para apoio ao acompanhamento de egressos: um estudo de caso na pós-graduação stricto sensu do campus Ponta Grossa da UTFPR

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are inserted in an increasingly demanding social and economic context in relation to the fulfillment of their educational, social and legal functions. In this sense, it is up to HEIs to continually investigate the results produced by their teaching programs, checking whether the demands of the job market and society related to educational and professional qualifications are being met by students graduated in the different levels of education they offer. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to investigate what contributions can be obtained by developing a technological platform to support the monitoring of stricto sensu postgraduate graduates, since the management and monitoring of graduates can bring valuable information to HEIs, this being the motivating factor for the construction of the Egressos Platform. The tool was initially developed and tested within the scope of postgraduate programs at the UTFPR Ponta Grossa campus. being developed not only, but mainly, features aimed at managers at this level of education not found in the literature. The tool is integrated with academic databases and those of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), extracting data from these sources automatically in order to centralize the information in a single computing environment. The platform was evaluated in a case study conducted by specialists in software development and mainly by managers and former managers of postgraduate programs, with the aim of verifying its usefulness for management and monitoring of graduates and also identifying possible improvements to the software. Data for the case study were collected and analyzed using three research variables: system functionality, checking for inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the execution of functions; usability, evaluating the experience of user-system interaction and the practical applicability of the tool for postgraduate program managers. The evaluation was completed successfully, having great importance in improving the platform, allowing adjustments and refinements to be made as pointed out by the specialists, managers and former managers of the postgraduate program. The results obtained in the evaluation showed that the information generated by the Graduates Platform, such as analysis of indicators, evaluation of research data, analysis of the academic and professional evolution of graduates, can contribute to management actions and support strategies that allow expanding, from the point of view, from an informational point of view, the quality of stricto sensu postgraduate programs in Brazil.