ACCESS POLICIES TO HIGHER EDUCATION: WHY ASSESS?

Abstract

This paper discusses the assessing public policies and how the studies on this subject are, and in this context, investigates the assessment of Higher Education access policies. The importance of studies on assessment of policies, in particular the social nature, lies in the fact that it is precisely the assessment that allows the feedback provision of the government to the population, which means that it is a necessary process to democracy. It also intended to identify in theses and dissertations (2011-2012), from Higher Education Personnel Training Coordination (CAPES) database, the frequency of papers related to the assessment of higher education access policies. From the study it can be concluded that researches on evaluation of public policies in general are still incipient, and, with regard to higher education access policies, although there is a consistent significant production on the subject, the focus is on analysis of the forms of access and retention in higher education from different social groups and different programs. There are few studies in education that investigated, specifically, the evaluation of access policies; it is still an unexplored field of research.