O (Des)caminho da binacionalização do ensino: a experiência da gestão universitária do Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense – IFSul, Campus Sant'Ana do Livramento, na Fronteira Brasil e Uruguai

Abstract

This study aims to configure the challenge of the binationalization and university management of teaching in Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense – IFSul, campus of Santana do Livramento, on the border between Brazil and Uruguay, to analyze the impacts and differences in the organizational processes of this organization. In order to develop this research a case study was carried out in IFSul, campus of Santana do Livramento. This research involved other two Uruguayan universities which are partners of IFSul- Campus of Santana do Livramento, the Universidad del trabajo del Uruguay – UTU and Universidad Tecnologica del Uruguay- UTEC, both institutions situated in the city of Rivera, the capital of the department of Rivera, in the north of Uruguay. Besides the case study, in this research a qualitative approach was used with the conduction of semi-structured interviews which were carried out with employees and students of IFSul. In this way, with this study, it was possible to establish a model of indicators to verify the existence of binational characteristics. With this, it was possible to configure that IFSul develops the binationalization of teaching in partnership with UTU and UTEC. However, this course of action has demanded more work from the employees involved, which has resulted in work overload, as nowadays these professionals are involved not only with different countries but also with various cultures which impose diverse actions, legislation and answers. Furthermore, the research pointed that it has been necessary, in all spaces, inside and outside the institutions of teaching involved in the process, to reassure their particularities and needs so that they could be understood and therefore overcome, providing solutions for the obstacles found in the consolidation of this binational teaching. This study also presented the support coming from the Ministry of Education (Brazilian and Uruguayan) and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Brazilian e Uruguayan) as a difficulty, because the actions of binationalization depends on political, bureaucratic issues and the legislations of Brazil and Uruguay which affect, somehow, the evolution of this project. Moreover, the binationalization of teaching, because of being built slowly, suffers from the unfamiliarity and distrust of the community in general. It should be noted that this study is linked to Observatório de Gestão Universitária de Inclusão e Desenvolvimento do Pampa.