CENTRALITY METRICS AND GRADUATE PROGRAM EVOLUTION: THE CASE OF PRODUCTION ENGINEERING GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT In Brazil, graduate courses are evaluated by the National Graduate Program System and regulated by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), an agency linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC). The intellectual production of the faculty of the programs is the main criteria in determining a program’s grade. In this study, we verified whether the grade attributed to the programs is dependent on the co-authorship network of the faculty of the program. Particularly, we analyze whether programs composed mostly by faculty members who cooperate in academic productions and have a more central position in the co-authorship network perform better than those with faculty with fewer collaboration. The paper concludes that there is a relation between the programs’ grade and the number of faculty members that collaborates in their intellectual productions. It is also concluded that programs that improved the grade are composed mainly of faculty members with high centrality or have few faculty members with low centrality measures. Moreover, programs that have decreased their grade are formed mainly by faculty members with low centrality measures or with few faculty members with high centrality measures.摘要 在巴西，研究生项目由国家研究生项目系统开展评估，并由高等教育人员提升协调局（Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior，简称CAPES）监管，该机构隶属于巴西教育部（Ministry of Education，简称MEC）。项目所属院系教师的学术产出，是评定项目等级的核心标准。本研究旨在验证项目获评等级是否与其所属院系教师的合著网络存在关联。具体而言，本研究分析了主要由积极开展学术合作、在合著网络中占据核心位置的教师组成的项目，是否比教师合作较少的项目获得更高等级。研究结论表明，项目等级与参与学术产出合作的教师人数存在关联。研究同时指出，等级提升的项目主要由高中心性教师组成，或仅拥有少量低中心性指标的教师；而等级下滑的项目则主要由低中心性指标的教师组成，或仅拥有少量高中心性指标的教师。