Programas de cooperação internacional em pesquisa: avaliação de efetividade e efeito concentrador

Abstract

In a context of globalization, academic, scientific and technological activity is largely organized in the form of global networks of researchers and research groups linked to universities and science & technology (S&T) institutes located in different parts of the world. In this highly transnationalized environment, belonging to global research networks is a condition for keeping up to date in terms of cutting-edge research and the frontier of scientific and technological activity. For this reason, universities, research institutes and S&T funding agencies encourage the establishment or deepening of international partnerships through cooperation programs. In view of this scenario, the present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of international research cooperation programs and, in this aspect, to develop an evaluative methodology that can be applied, by extension, to various modalities of research funding. In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis, a case study was carried out on bilateral research cooperation programs managed by the Brazilian Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (Capes) between 2015 and 2020. A gradual multimethodological approach was applied, in which greater analytical rigor was conferred at each stage of the research, in order to gradually check the results obtained in the previous stage. The gradual multimethodological approach followed the following order: (i) simple before-and-after evaluation; (ii) creation of a control group; (iii) conducting a difference in difference (dif-in-dif) analysis between the treatment group and the control group; (iv) analysis of the increase in bilateral cooperation with the countries with specific agreements with Capes; (v) identification of the causal theory that underlies the cooperation programs; (vi) elaboration of multivariate linear regression models (etiological models) in order to verify the effectiveness of the programs; and, finally, (vii) the application of statistical matching techniques between the treatment group and the control group, in order to measure the causal effect of the cooperation programs. On the one hand, no evidence was found that the cooperation programs achieved their objectives satisfactorily, according to the selected indicators, especially because most of the resources are addressed to highly competitive and consolidated institutions from the point of view of international research partnerships. On the other hand, a Concentrating Effect was found in the grants of joint research projects that can accentuate the inequalities inherent to the National Graduate System (SNPG) in terms of international cooperation. This Concentrating Effect functions as a variant of the Matthew Effect or Cumulative Advantages. It can be said that cooperation programs operate more in maintaining the status quo than in increasing international collaborative research. In this regard, it is recommended that international cooperation policies in research be promoted by region, to be designed through specific calls for proposals, in order to take in account the regional, federative and institutional diversity of the country and to enhance scientific and technological development outside the main research producing centers.