Basic knowledge in accounting and related areas: a study at potiguar universities under the global curriculum

Abstract

This study aims to present an overview of the content taught at Rio Grande do Norte universities, in light of the Global Curriculum proposed by the UN/UNCTAD/ISAR. In order to do that, the syllabus of each course at the universities underwent documentary research and content analyses; both elective and core courses were investigated. At this juncture, a quali-quantitative approach was adopted for data analysis, once we conducted a category-based analysis of the syllabi and utilized the study of the level of adherence of the Pedagogical Project of the Course to the Global Curriculum. It is important to note that out of the 17 certified higher learning institutions on the e-MEC Portal, only those which offered in-person courses and were actual universities were singled out for analysis. Regarding the gathered data, it could be observed that there are analogies between the contents that are taught in public (? = 27%) and private universities (? = 18%), mainly concerning the Basic Accounting course (21,83%). Also, it could be perceived that elective courses have an influence on the distribution of the curricular activities available at the institutions and that, in general, the results differ among the ones that were analyzed. This further denotes the need to reassess curricular contents at the universities of Rio Grande do Norte so as to align these contents with those of the Global Curriculum and have the modules taught in Accounting Schools converge.