A percepção do processo de internacionalização por docentes e discentes de pós-graduação

Abstract

The internationalization of higher education institutions, considered as the process of “integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of postsecondary education” (KNIGHT, 2003, p. 02), has been growing in the past thirty years. Internationalization is still being misinterpreted as just a synonym of academic mobility which, as important as it is, is not the only factor responsible for the development of internationalization in postsecondary education institutions. In this sense, internationalization at home (BEELEN; JONES, 2015) and internationalization of the curriculum (LEASK, 2009) are relevant for the democratization of the process, which must involve the entire academic community, not only those who have the access to academic mobility. In this dissertation, we will analyze the perceptions of professors and students in graduate programs graded 5, 6 and 7, at Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel) regarding the internationalization in this institution. This cut was proposed because the programs graded 6 and 7 are considered highly internationalized, while the ones graded 5 may be seeking higher internationalization in order to fulfill one of the requirements to increase their grades in the evaluation from CAPES. The research has a qualitative character, a case study with a documental basis to analyze the documents related to the internationalization of the chosen institution and empiric based on the collection of data by a questionnaire sent to the participants to the analysis of their perception regarding the process of internationalization in the institution. In the analysis of the data, we noticed that the students have a more positive perspective both regarding the level and the efforts for internationalization by the institution, but, at the same time, they are not always involved in these efforts. Both professors and students seem to associate internationalization just to mobility, and may not recognize the internationalization at home actions as part of internationalization actions from the institution. The role of linguistic formation in foreign languages, fundamental to the development of internationalization, appears not to be present in the observed programs. With this research, we have a portrait of the internationalization of the institution from the perceptions of its academic community, mainly regarding the actions of internationalization that go beyond academic mobility.