Feasibility of the DEA and Networks as Support to Decisions in the Post-Graduation of CEFET-MG
DEA; Social networks; Decision support tools; CEFET-MG
Post-graduate programs in Brazilian higher education organizations have grown considerably in recent years. With the quantitative increase of these programs, there is also a concern with the quality of the courses and the way of managing them. In the context of public organizations, in which society's contribution supports resources, it is even more necessary to evaluate efficiency so that the results obtained are according to the resources employed. With a view to this evaluation, CAPES measures educational organizations' efficiency through a scoring system, generating scores that can be compared among programs in the same area at different institutions. However, even though Capes' evaluation, it is impossible to compare post-graduate programs in different areas, making difficult internal management of post-graduate programs in the same educational organization. This study aims to verify the effectiveness of joining the data envelopment analysis technique (DEA) and networks as tools to compare post-graduate programs' efficiency in different areas, contributing to post-graduate managers to make decisions within the educational organization to which they belong. The research is with a mixed approach from a functionalist perspective. A cross-section of the years 2013 to 2018 was carried out. The investigation employed descriptive analyzes, word cloud, sociograms, structural tests of network theory (small-world, scale-free, hemophilia), and data envelopment analysis as tools to support the decision. It was found that CEFET-MG programs have characteristics of the small-world, and the presence of hemophilia among the programs was identified. It was possible to measure the efficiency of graduate programs through the combination of DEA techniques and networks. In both applications, the benchmark program was maintained after applying network indicators. Superefficiency models were used to improve the distinction of the six chosen programs, with the Technological Education and Administration programs being the ones that were most efficient within CEFET-MG, according to the chosen variables.