Brasília, March 4, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Yesterday (3), the Chamber of Deputies approved a Provisional Measure (MP) that establishes a new model for evaluating university courses in the country. The National System for the Evaluation of Higher Education (Sinaes) will replace the old National Course Exam, created under the previous Administration and known as the Big Exam. The MP now proceeds to the Senate for consideration.

The text determines that students, courses, and institutions of higher education will be evaluated. The penalties for those who fail to substantiate educational quality range from the suspension of college entrance examinations to the closing of the institution and the suspension of course accreditation. Prior to the application of penalties, a letter of commitment will be signed by the Ministry of Education and the institution to try to reverse the situation. Sanctions will only be applied if the problem persists.

The opinion presented by the rapporteur, Deputy Dr. Evilásio (PSB/SP), was approved without alterations. The Deputy classified the MP as an improvement on the existing educational system. "Up to now we only had the evaluation of students through the Big Exam. Now, institutions and courses will be evaluated," he explained.

The Minister of Education, Tarso Genro, said that he was pleased with the definition given by the rapporteur to the text submitted to the National Congress by his predecessor, Cristovam Buarque. According to Genro, the original MP represented an advance over the previous system but was too general. This flaw, in his view, was corrected during the passage through the Chamber of Deputies.

"During the negotiations with the rapporteur, we produced a bill to convert the MP into a law, in which we made the process more precise, extending the scope of evaluation and providing better conditions for its technical operation," he said. (DAS)