Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze whether Institutional Development Plans (IDP) are strategic documents or simply a response to seeking legitimacy in the face of regulatory pressures. This is a qualitative study based on information from 20 IDPs of Brazilian universities, categorized as private, public, community, or confessional. To analyze the IDPs, the content analysis methodology was used. As a result, it was found that most IDPs are much more descriptive documents, with operational goals and plans, than documents with strategic characteristics. On the other hand, in most of the documents analyzed, there was evidence of the importance and relevance of constructing an IDP as a benefit for the management and the university organization as a whole. It was concluded that IDPs tend to be documents that seek to provide universities with legitimacy in relation to the actors involved. In other words, they converge towards institutional isomorphism. Thus, they are not prepared, and used only due to institutional demands, but mainly due to legal impositions.
Highlights
In response to the rapid growth of the Brazilian educational sector, in 2004 the Ministry of Education (MEC) created the Higher Education Evaluation System (SINAES), which includes a model for the drafting of an Institutional Development Plan (IDP)
The purpose of this article was to identify whether the strategic adaptations of High Education Institutions (HEI), expressed in their IDPs, only reflect institutional pressures, leading them to converge their actions or characterize the strategic need to become differentiated through the development of their resources and capabilities
20 IDPs were selected from Brazilian universities categorized as private, public, community, or confessional
Summary
In response to the rapid growth of the Brazilian educational sector, in 2004 the Ministry of Education (MEC) created the Higher Education Evaluation System (SINAES), which includes a model for the drafting of an Institutional Development Plan (IDP). An IDP can be viewed as a strategic planning tool for High Education Institutions (HEI), describing the mission, goals, actions, objectives, deadlines, and results to be achieved. This information, if well used, would help HEI remain competitive in terms of efficient control of their financial resources, enabling investments in infrastructure, qualified professionals, and new technology (Almino Francisco, Otani, Helou, & Michels, 2011). Some approaches have been observed that strive to understand how HEI, whether public, private, community, or confessional, use this document to enact their strategies, or attempt to identify the importance of formulating strategy to aid the drafting of an IDP (Silva, Melo, & Ramos, 2013; Samonetto (Dalmagro & Rausch, 2012). The limits and possibilities of an IDP are understood as a managerial tool in the view of teaching and technical-administrative staff (Mizael, Pereira, Vilas Boas, & Ferreira, 2012)
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