Internal evaluation commissions: impasses and perspectives in the implementation of internal assessment

Paper deals with the institutional evaluation, especially the internal evaluation, in the Evaluation of Higher Education Institutions, which is part of the National System of Higher Education Evaluation, considering its possibilities as a mechanism for the formulation of institutional policies. It examines actions and positions of the members of the Internal Evaluation Commission in two Federal Universities, with reference to the changes that take place in the higher education evaluation policy by the introduction of the general indices in the National Higher Education Evaluation System. The research assumes that the limitations and difficulties facing by Internal Evaluation Commissions in carrying out the institutional assessment have affected its capacity to propose institutional policies, particularly management policies. We note that the possibility of institutional evaluation to establish itself as a reference for the formulation of institutional policies has considerably been diminished by changes introduced in SINAES in recent years, making the Internal Evaluation Commission operating within formal limit required by the System.