Citizenship in the educational proposal of quality: the evaluation of Social Responsibility as a form of mediation

Abstract

The modernity expressed in "fluidity", "risk" and "deregulation" causes changes affecting the educational system in valued and architectural forms. In the tourbillion of changes, questions return to the genesis: what kind of society do we want? and what students should we educate? In the case of Higher Education Institutions (ISS), these questions represent the revaluation of practices by means of State measures and, in an inseparable way, by means of Institutions´ autonomy principle. The National System of Higher Education Assessment (SINAES) establishes a systemic and dialogical evaluation process, which has the purpose to promote and disseminate a culture looking for quality in public and private teaching institutions, starting from "universal" and "individual" references. Pragmatically, it distinguishes ten "dimensions" as observational focus, among them, the object of this study: Social Responsibility dimension. It signals a "new social contract" between society and IES, which must be assessed by the impacts that generates: impact on organizational functioning (management); educational impact (education); impact on knowledge production (research); social impact (extension). The "principle of responsibility" answers the questions: why, before who and how we are responsible? The duties and rights are parts of this principle that become formalized in the conception of "citizenship". This way, it is presented the objective of this research, which is related to assess social responsibility of the Higher Education Complex in Santa Catarina (CESUSC) as mediation for quality education and citizenship. It is worth highlighting that CESUSC has started from a differentiated proposal and based on Human Rights precepts.