Transparency in brazilian federal universities: an analysis of governance mechanisms

Abstract

Governance is consolidated as relevant in the public sphere, capable of helping to strengthen transparency and the dissemination of access to information. In the context of public administration, the Brazilian Federal Universities (FUs) have social relevance, since they involve approximately 1,072,379 undergraduate students, and were responsible for R$ 79.7 billion of the Ministry of Education (MEC) budget in the year of 2017. This research aims to analyze the governance mechanisms used for transparency in the FUs. The management reports and electronic portals of the 63 Federal Universities were analyzed, seeking to identify the transparency practices used. For this, a checklist was developed based on the four dimensions of governance (accountability, disclosure, compliance, and fairness). The quantitative approach was used by cluster analysis and nonparametric tests. The main results highlight that from 63 FUs, 7 FUs did not present management reports, 38 FUs showed greater exposure of governance practices in transparency, while 18 FUs presented less exposure. Even though there are differences between the groups, the study shows that there is still much to be covered by the FUs when it comes to transparency.