Avaliação e acreditação no MERCOSUL

The accreditation in higher education is a practical, presented by some countries, which seeks to ensure the quality of services that are offered in an educational institution. This study aims to discuss the accreditation process in higher education, analyzing the context of Brazilian higher education with regard to the development of evaluation processes and also establish the relationship between the evaluation processes developed in Brazil and existing accreditation practices in America Latina. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with actors involved in the evaluation and accreditation processes, and a thorough review of the literature on the subject proposal. The importance of evaluating the practices accomplished in higher education became apparent, as well as ensure the quality of a system in full expansion with millions of students, that drive the economy of a developing country. These experiences plus the work developed by the cooperation networks for accreditation are of great emphasis on developing a quality assurance culture in education. Continuing this practice, accreditation processes appear as an evaluation form which contemplates the assessment itself and moves forward a little more, becoming another element to guarantee the quality.