Um estudo de caso sobre a Universidade Aberta do Brasil no Polo de Mauriti-Ceará: elementos de formação educacional, implementação e resultados

Abstract

The Open University of Brazil (UAB) system has been, since 2005, a public policy that seeks to expand and internalize access to higher education through distance education (EAD), due to the lack of vacancies in the Public System of Higher Education in the country. Thus, the objective of this research was to analyze the Face-to-Face Support Pole of the UAB system in Mauriti - Ceará, as a public policy of access to public higher education, where the researcher has acted, since 2017, as a distance tutor in the undergraduate course in Administration. Public by the State University of Ceará (UECE). In order to carry out the research, perceptions of the actors involved (students, alumni, coordinators, ex-coordinators and tutors) were investigated, after the implementation of the UAB Pole in Mauriti, as well as results achieved with the arrival of the Pole in the municipality. The methodology used was a case study, which included data collection from different sources, visits and direct observation in the city, semi-structured interviews conducted with coordinators, ex-coordinators, students, ex-students and tutors, and were also data was collected on the historical trajectory of that Pole of the UAB system, as well as of higher education in the municipality. Also, to complement the case study, indexes and data on the UAB system in Ceará and on higher education nor Mauriti were analyzed, which provided some quantitative data on possible results generated after the implementation of the UAB Pole in the municipality. The analysis also showed that the presence of the On-Site Support Pole of the UAB system has collaborated with local socioeconomic development, through reports from managers, who pointed to the emergence of new employment and income opportunities for students in the system, as well as it was noticed that the UAB system has positive results, showing that the distance learning modality can present several benefits to the participating municipalities through mechanisms for the insertion of students in higher education and training, as well as, also, it has negative points, because not all are adapt the distance learning modality, and not everyone wants to enroll or continue the course, because sometimes, it is not what they really sought to train themselves, since the offer of courses has few options, and that the goal of the system is still UAB is the training of teachers with undergraduate courses and others aimed at improving the municipality. In conclusion, it is necessary that the public policy of the UAB system be reassessed and redesigned, with the collaborative participation of all the actors involved, in order to see a continuity of this public policy.