ACADEMIC ORIENTATION: THE WAY FOR THE INTEGRATION OF STUDENTS TO UNIVERSITY LIFE
Academic Orientation. Average Conclusion Rate of Presential Undergraduate Courses. Higher Education and Quality Indicator.
The aim of this study is to analyse the relation between the Academic Orientation practice, established by resolution N° 171/2013 – CONSEPE/UFRN, of the 5th November 2013, and the reach of average conclusion rate of undergraduate courses at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. This is a qualitative work that will be structured with a documentary and a field research basis. In the first stage, beyond literature concerning to academic orientation, were consulted documents extracted from the collegiate, from the database of the Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Atividades Acadêmicas, and data from Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira. The second stage, which still being constructed, will be performed through semi-structured interview with course coordinators and academic advisors of the Medicine –Natal and Mathematics – Bachelor degree – Natal undergraduate courses. These courses were chosen according to their results achieved, in 2012 to 2016 period, in relation to the Average Conclusion Rate of Presential Undergraduate Courses, agreed between Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte and Ministério da Educação. Preliminary Results, which correspond to documentary stage, report academic orientation as an institutional process since 1975, and that its objective is to contribute to the integration of students into university life. However, its practice is not reflecting as an indicator of higher education improvement in what concerns to the results reached by undergraduate courses reported in the number of incoming and completed students in a 5-year period. Research second stage aims to comprehend the perception of academic advisors and course coordinators about the academic orientation practice.