GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONALIZATION: AN INSTITUTIONAL SELFASSESSMENT OF THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION AT TIRADENTES UNIVERSITYAbstract
This paper presents an institutional self-assessment of the internationalization processes carried out within the Graduate Program in Education at Tiradentes University (PPED/UNIT). It understands globalization as a structuring context that shapes, challenges, and reconfigures knowledge production and academic education, and internationalization as a political and pedagogical strategy through which institutions respond to these challenges by articulating scientific cooperation, mobility, curriculum internationalization, academic networks, and digital technologies. The methodology is based on documentary analysis of the Strategic Plan, PPED/UNIT institutional self-assessment reports, and the Sucupira Platform, complemented by an analysis of academic cooperation indicators, such as student and faculty mobility and the formation of international research networks during the most recent four-year evaluation cycle (2021-2024). The analysis identifies advances in the institutionalization of internationalization, the strengthening of internationalization at home, integration into research networks, and increased academic visibility, while also identifying tensions related to fragmented actions, access asymmetries, and the risk of metric reductionism. The study concludes that internationalization, when guided by principles of cooperation, equity, and social relevance, constitutes a strategic educational dimension capable of connecting local, regional, and national engagement with the international circulation of knowledge.
Keywords:
self-assessment; internationalization of graduate education; globalization.
Resumo
Este texto apresenta uma análise autoavaliativa institucional sobre os processos de internacionalização desenvolvidos no âmbito do Programa de PósGraduação em Educação da Universidade Tiradentes (PPED/UNIT). Parte-se da compreensão da globalização como um cenário estruturante que condiciona, tensiona e reconfigura a produção do conhecimento e a formação acadêmica, e da internacionalização como uma estratégia política e pedagógica por meio da qual as instituições respondem a esses desafios, articulando cooperação científica, mobilidade, internacionalização curricular, redes acadêmicas e tecnologias digitais. A metodologia baseia-se na análise documental do Plano Estratégico e de relatórios de autoavaliação institucional do PPED/UNIT e da Plataforma Sucupira, complementada pela análise de indicadores de cooperação acadêmica, como a mobilidade discente e docente e a constituição de redes internacionais de pesquisa no período da última avaliação quadrienal (2021-2024). A análise evidencia avanços na institucionalização da internacionalização, no fortalecimento da internacionalização at home, na inserção em redes de pesquisa e na ampliação da visibilidade acadêmica, bem como identifica tensões relacionadas à fragmentação de ações, às assimetrias de acesso e ao risco de reducionismos métricos. Conclui-se que a internacionalização, quando orientada por princípios de cooperação, equidade e relevância social, constitui uma dimensão formativa estratégica, capaz de articular a inserção local, regional e nacional com a circulação internacional do conhecimento.
Palavras-chave:
autoavaliação; internacionalização da pós-graduação; globalização.
Resumen
Este texto presenta un análisis de autoevaluación institucional de los procesos de internacionalización desarrollados en el marco del Programa de Posgrado en Educación de la Universidad de Tiradentes (PPED/UNIT). Parte de la comprensión de la globalización como un escenario estructurador que condiciona, pone a prueba y reconfigura la producción de conocimiento y la formación académica, y de la internacionalización como una estrategia política y pedagógica mediante la cual las instituciones responden a estos desafíos, articulando la cooperación científica, la movilidad, la internacionalización curricular, las redes académicas y las tecnologías digitales. La metodología se basa en un análisis documental del Plan Estratégico y los informes de autoevaluación institucional del PPED/UNIT y la Plataforma Sucupira, complementado con un análisis de indicadores de cooperación académica, como la movilidad de estudiantes y docentes y el establecimiento de redes de investigación internacionales durante el último período de evaluación de cuatro años (2021-2024). El análisis resalta los avances en la institucionalización de la internacionalización, el fortalecimiento de la internacionalización at home, la integración en redes de investigación y el aumento de la visibilidad académica, además de identificar tensiones relacionadas con la fragmentación de acciones, las asimetrías en el acceso y el riesgo de reduccionismo métrico. Concluye que la internacionalización, cuando se guía por principios de cooperación, equidad y relevancia social, constituye una dimensión estratégica formativa capaz de articular la integración local, regional y nacional con la circulación internacional del conocimiento.
Palabras clave:
autoevaluación; internacionalización de los estudios de posgrado; globalización.
1 INTRODUCTION
Globalization is understood as a structuring context in which graduate education is embedded, while internationalization is viewed as a political and pedagogical strategy through which academic institutions generally respond to contemporary processes of scientific cooperation, student and faculty mobility, collaborative research output, curriculum internationalization, and, above all, participation in international networks, projects, and events, many of which are mediated by digital technologies.
On the one hand, these processes contribute to the dissemination and enhancement of collective intelligence, understood as shared construction within networks (Lévy, 2014), closely connected to cultural mediations, communication dynamics, and the social appropriation of technology (Martín-Barbero, 2015). In this context, they foster knowledge sharing, the circulation of experiences, and collaborative development aimed at faculty professional development and institutional strengthening. From this perspective, internationalization can serve as a means of broadening scientific dialogue and collectively addressing educational and social problems of global scope.
On the other hand, this process is not free from tensions and contradictions. Internationalization can also reproduce unequal power relations among countries, institutions, and scientific communities, reflected in the centrality of the Global North in knowledge production, the hegemony of English as the language through which knowledge circulates, the concentration of the highest-impact journals in particular academic centers, the asymmetries that characterize international flows of knowledge production and dissemination, and the growing influence of international evaluation criteria (Santos, 2017). In this context, reductionist processes may sometimes be encouraged, distancing institutions from one another when internationalization is understood narrowly. This occurs, for example, when priority is given not to strengthening collective learning and the shared resolution of global problems, but to publishing in foreign languages as an end in itself, accompanied by an overvaluation of quantifiable metrics at the expense of the social relevance of the knowledge produced, researched, and published.
In such cases, intellectual dependence is reinforced as opportunities for cooperation and international visibility become contingent on access to financial resources, consolidated infrastructures, and unequal material conditions for research production, favoring institutions that are already in privileged positions. As a result, local and regional forms of knowledge may be rendered invisible despite their social, cultural, and epistemological relevance to understanding specific realities and developing context-sensitive educational alternatives.
This paper presents an institutional self-assessment of the internationalization initiatives and activities promoted by Tiradentes University (UNIT), considering actions undertaken throughout its institutional trajectory. Particular attention is given to the period corresponding to the most recent four-year evaluation cycle of the Graduate Program in Education (PPED/UNIT), highlighting the main political and pedagogical strategies adopted and the results achieved in this process. These actions are analyzed in light of the broader context of globalization, especially with regard to continuing professional development, the development of cooperation networks, and the expansion of national and international academic partnerships.
Within this process, internationalization, when understood as an educational and collaborative process, contributes to strengthening institutional ties, narrowing academic divides, and enhancing meaningful cooperation, whether through participation in international databases or through engagement in research networks, interinstitutional projects, and scientific events. These initiatives broaden the circulation of the knowledge produced and foster the development of collective intelligence supported by expanded communication practices and the strategic use of digital technologies.
The internationalization of higher education has become a strategic imperative for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide. In Brazil, this movement has been intensified and formalized by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes), which incorporates the international dimension as a fundamental pillar for the visibility, strengthening, and validation of the quality of graduate programs (stricto sensu) in its four-year evaluation cycle.
The Education Area Document (Brasil, 2019) identifies, among the aspects related to the internationalization of graduate programs, the existence of clear internationalization goals; the offering of courses; the availability of international structures to host foreign students and researchers; courses taught in a foreign language; sandwich research stays abroad; the presence of international faculty and students in academic activities; publication in high-impact international journals; the establishment of research partnerships with foreign institutions; and recognition of the program abroad. These indications are part of the criteria "Program, Training, and Impact," reinforcing the intention to consolidate internationalization.
In this context, a program's excellence and international standing are measured not merely by participation in cooperative activities, but by its strategic capacity to integrate a global perspective into its management and educational project, which characterizes the actual impact of such action.
At the same time, it must be recognized that, in their contradictory dimensions, these same processes can foster isolated, fragmented, and reductionist actions when internationalization is limited to stand-alone initiatives that are poorly connected to a consistent institutional project. In such cases, practices may emerge that, although formally aligned with the discourse of internationalization, lack effective circulation, continuity, and educational impact, distancing themselves from a coherent, ethical, and socially responsible form of global engagement.
In light of this tension, this study proposes a critical institutional analysis driven by academic management policies and the pedagogical practices actually developed, while keeping in view the central dimensions of globalization and the internationalization of continuing professional development. The aim is to understand the extent to which the actions implemented contribute to consolidating an integrated, sustainable, and socially grounded internationalization project capable of connecting the local, national, and global levels while respecting institutional specificities and the public commitments of graduate education in the field of Education.
Accordingly, the analysis is not limited to listing activities carried out; rather, it problematizes their educational meanings, institutional reach, and epistemological implications, thereby contributing to the continuous improvement of internationalization policies and to strengthening self-assessment as a structuring practice of academic management and knowledge production.
Methodologically, the study is grounded in institutional self-reflection, bringing together references from the sociology of globalization (Giddens, 2023; Castells, 2021; Santos, 2017), critical analysis of internationalization policies (OCDE, 2009; UNESCO, 2016; Ball, 2012), and studies on continuing professional development and teacher professionalism (Schön, 2000), while understanding internationalization as a situated political-pedagogical process.
Against this background, this paper seeks to advance the understanding of this process by articulating globalization as a structuring context and internationalization as a political and pedagogical strategy, with a view to an institutional self-reflection on the strategic internationalization plan of a Graduate Program in Education and its achievements during the most recent four-year evaluation cycle.
2 SCENARIOS AND STRATEGIES: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
Globalization and internationalization have become fundamental pillars of contemporary life and help explain the growing need for closer ties among institutions through agreements, partnerships, sharing practices, and cooperative actions that strengthen academic relations in higher education.
From a sociological perspective, Giddens (1990) interprets globalization as the intensification of social relations on a planetary scale, reflecting on modernity and the reconfiguration of social institutions. His approach shows how global transformations affect institutions, policies, and practices, providing an essential theoretical foundation for understanding contemporary processes of higher education internationalization and science policy.
Manuel Castells (2021), also a sociologist, discusses the emergence of the network society and informational globalization, showing how the global economy operates in real time by connecting markets, institutions, and decision-making processes worldwide. For Castells, power is increasingly exercised through technological networks and information flows that cross national borders and reconfigure social relations. Castells (2021) argues that globalization is enabled by digital infrastructure and communication networks, which profoundly transform the economy, politics, culture, and education. His analysis provides an essential framework for understanding the internationalization of higher education as a phenomenon embedded in the logic of the network society, in which the circulation of knowledge, international academic cooperation, and the formation of research networks become central to knowledge production and dissemination.
These debates are further developed by Santos (2017), who distinguishes hegemonic globalization from counter-hegemonic globalizations, including social movements, subalternized groups, territorial struggles, feminisms, and Indigenous struggles. In this context, globalization reflects the hegemony of a single model of economic, political, and cultural organization imposed at different scales, producing inequalities and forms of invisibility. Santos (2017) conceives globalization as a field of dispute in which the production, circulation, and validation of knowledge are politically shaped. His perspective is essential to critical analyses of the internationalization of higher education, particularly when seeking to understand global inequalities, epistemicide, and cooperative alternatives in academia.
Pierre Lévy (2010) moves from the notion of cyberculture toward the conception of a global cognitive infrastructure structured by digital systems, computational languages, metadata, and semantic processes capable of profoundly reorganizing the production, circulation, and validation of knowledge on a planetary scale. From this perspective, contemporary globalization is understood less as an exclusively economic phenomenon and more as a communicational, cognitive, and informational process that redefines how science is conducted, transforms higher education, and reconfigures international circuits of knowledge production and circulation. Cyberculture therefore expands the possibilities for international interaction and collaboration, although realizing these possibilities depends on institutional, political, economic, and cultural conditions that are not always equally distributed.
The perspective of cyberculture is particularly productive for analyzing current phenomena such as open science, international research networks, academic digital platforms, and new models of knowledge governance, in which collective intelligence operates as an organizing principle of global scientific and educational ecosystems.
Giddens (2023), Castells (2021), Santos (2017), and Lévy (2010, 2014) share the understanding that we live in a context of structural change manifested and reconfigured in the economy, culture, politics, knowledge production and dissemination, and social relations. Although they adopt different approaches, these authors offer complementary theoretical frameworks for understanding globalization in its multiple dimensions and impacts, both as a process that expands connections and opportunities for cooperation on a planetary scale and as a field of disputes, tensions, and asymmetries that shape knowledge circulation, the internationalization of higher education, and contemporary scientific networks.
Globalization can therefore be summarized as a historical, economic, political, technological, and cultural process that intensifies connections among countries, institutions, markets, and people on a planetary scale. It is a complex and asymmetric phenomenon, currently fueled and amplified by international capitalism, migration flows, the circulation of knowledge, digital technology, and the political and economic agendas established among countries. Internationalization, in turn, consists of a set of policies, practices, strategies, and actions adopted by institutions, particularly higher education institutions, and by graduate programs. In institutional terms, internationalization responds to globalization by promoting academic cooperation, faculty and student mobility, curriculum internationalization, coauthorship and research networks, participation in different organizations, the use of different languages, increased scientific visibility, dual degrees, cotutelle arrangements for theses and dissertations, and the international production and circulation of knowledge.
Ball (2012) extends this debate by situating educational transformations within a global political and economic context. In articulating the concept of performativity, he problematizes the growing centrality of indicators and metrics in education policy, which leads universities to shape their research agendas and curricula not necessarily in response to local social demands, but in order to meet global indicators.
This context gives rise to what Ball (2012) calls the terror of performativity, a process in which the value of academic work is assessed strictly through metrics of international productivity and market visibility. In this context, the report Reimagining Our Futures Together (Comissão [...], 2022) points to a paradigm shift: internationalization should not serve the escalation of institutional rankings, but rather the consolidation of a Global Knowledge Ecosystem based on cooperation. The proposal for a new social contract for education suggests that internationalization should move beyond market logic and become a common good grounded in solidarity and the decolonization of knowledge.
Within Brazilian graduate education, Capes understands internationalization as a set of structuring actions integrated into four-year evaluation processes and operationalized, among other instruments, through the Sucupira Platform. From this perspective, internationalization is no longer understood solely as academic mobility or publication in a foreign language; instead, it constitutes a strategic dimension of program quality, international engagement, and scientific and social impact.
Within this context, self-assessment serves as a strategic compass, enabling programs to identify educational and institutional gaps, strengthen areas of excellence, align good academic practices, and position themselves critically and proactively in relation to global trends without relinquishing the social relevance and intellectual sovereignty of local research.
Globalization provides the structuring backdrop for contemporary transformations in education, characterized by intensified informational, epistemological, and technological flows. Internationalization, in turn, represents the institutional response to these processes, taking the form of a deliberate strategy for academic engagement in the global arena. In graduate education, to internationalize means to broaden the circulation of research output, strengthen transnational research networks, and increase program visibility in alignment with Capes guidelines and requirements for scientific impact and quality.
Along this trajectory of internationalizing educational processes, evaluation and self-assessment in higher education become significant drivers both for identifying problems and gaps and for establishing hierarchies; at the same time, they foster change and innovation. Together, these processes are fundamental to sharing practices, improving processes for the comparability of programs, accelerating projects and programs, and, above all, providing evidence to support the formulation of public education policies.
From this perspective, evaluation processes in graduate programs in Education are closely linked to national and international demands for academic quality and serve as systematic mechanisms for analyzing program relevance, impact, and operation. These processes assess student and faculty performance, scholarly output, social and international impact, academic infrastructure, regional engagement, education and professional development, and institutional governance policies. Within these processes, self-assessment assumes a strategic role as an internal, continuous, and participatory reflection conducted by the program itself, enabling an understanding of high-quality scholarly output.
3 THE UNIT GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION: A SELF-ASSESSMENT
Institutional self-assessment can be understood as a systematic and critical process through which institutions examine their own practices, assumptions, routines, and decisions in light of lived experiences, emerging challenges, and the social, political, and epistemological contexts in which they operate. Inspired by Schön's (2000) notion of reflective practice, this perspective shifts the institution from a merely normative or technical-instrumental stance toward a logic of continuous organizational learning.
According to Schön (2000), professional knowledge is not limited to the application of previously formulated theories; rather, it is constructed in action through reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Transposed to the institutional level, this conception implies recognizing that universities, schools, and educational organizations also "learn" from their practices and are capable of revising conceptions, redefining strategies, and transforming their modes of operation through critical analysis of their own experiences.
In this sense, institutional self-assessment constitutes an epistemological and political instrument because it enables institutions to problematize curricular decisions, teacher education policies, internationalization processes, evaluation models, and forms of governance, thereby fostering more democratic, context-sensitive, and socially responsible practices.
Documents such as the Institutional Development Plan (PDI) of Universidade Tiradentes (2023) provide guidelines for institutions that seek to be reflective, innovative, and committed to social transformation, particularly in the context of contemporary higher education. In this case, the proposals established in the document guide the Institutional Evaluation Committee (CPA) in monitoring management policies and educational actions.
A growing body of academic work addresses internationalization in stricto sensu graduate education and is available in different databases, with particular emphasis on academic output recorded by Capes, including theses and dissertations as well as articles in scientific journals. In this context, internationalization has been incorporated more systematically into evaluation practices and is often regarded as a basis for program excellence, almost always expressed through bibliometric indicators, as Carvalho and Real (2020) problematize when discussing whether programs conform to the prescribed set of indicators.
These indicators, however, do not always generate consensus among evaluators. This issue was examined by Paiva (2021), who analyzed the internationalization practices considered necessary for programs to attain high levels of excellence. From a more specific perspective, Turnes (2021) analyzed public policies aimed at researchers and designed to consolidate research groups and interinstitutional and international networks at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Among the study's conclusions is the transition from the individual researcher to the collective researcher, even though evaluation processes remain strongly anchored in individualized criteria, which may hinder the development of researchers capable of critically reflecting on the disputes that shape knowledge production.
Research on institutional self-assessment and the internationalization of graduate education has therefore addressed different analytical perspectives, highlighting the complexity and multidimensionality of these processes. In the field of evaluation, Carvalho and Real (2020) analyze the effects of internationalization on the management of Graduate Programs in Education; Pinho (2024) understands self-assessment as a process of continuous learning in graduate education; and Borges and Brandalise (2024) discuss aspects related to regulatory policies, quality management, the impact of education and training, innovations, and participatory practices.
In the field of internationalization, Leão, Nogueira, and Castro (2024) examine the effects of the Institutional Internationalization Program (CAPES-PrInt) on the formulation of institutional policies, highlighting its role in driving the reorganization of academic strategies at participating institutions. Trevisol (2025), in turn, addresses comparative perspectives and the international visibility of graduate programs. Gazzoni et al. (2025), examining institutional actors and the institutionalization of internationalization in higher education institutions in Rio Grande do Sul, identify the weakness of guidelines issued by public authorities as well as the absence of more consistent, continuous, and coordinated national policies capable of guiding institutions systemically.
Over recent decades, the internationalization of higher education has become a strategic priority for academic institutions in different contexts, closely linked to the transformations associated with globalization, the intensification of knowledge flows, and the strengthening of academic networks mediated by digital technologies. At the institutional level, the University recognizes internationalization as a cross-cutting strategy set out in its PDI (Universidade [...], 2023) and guided by institutional directives and by a Strategic Internationalization Plan (PEI) (Grupo [...], 2024), whose implementation and monitoring are the responsibility of the International Relations Office (GRI). These instruments define internationalization as a structuring policy directed not only toward academic mobility but also toward expanding partnerships, scientific cooperation, and curriculum internationalization, in line with the institution's strategic positioning. This reflects an expansion of activities with partner countries at the global level. UNIT maintains partnerships with different institutions across several countries and continents, as shown in Figure 1.
The UNIT PPED is situated within the institution's broader internationalization framework, articulating actions during the most recent four-year evaluation cycle from a perspective that understands the international dimension as educational, scientific, and communicational. This approach is consistent with the understanding of globalization as a structuring context for contemporary social relations, as discussed by Giddens (2023) and Castells (2021). From this perspective, internationalization is understood not merely as mobility or the circulation of academic products, but as a relational process mediated by networks and technologies that can strengthen the Program's local, regional, and national engagement while expanding its visibility and circuits of cooperation.
The effectiveness of a PEI is not limited to establishing external partnerships. It depends intrinsically on the institution's own capacity for internal reflection. This is where the central relevance of self-assessment lies: as a practice of reflection and strategic strengthening, it enables the program to critically analyze its actions and performance in relation to the criteria established by Capes in the Education Area Evaluation Form, particularly item 3.3, Internationalization, local, regional, and national engagement, and program visibility (Brasil, 2025). Internationalization should therefore be understood as a dynamic process that requires continuous realignment between global objectives and the local specificities of the field of Education in which the program is situated.
Self-assessment is understood as an essential reflective practice that enables PPED/UNIT to identify gaps and strengthen strategies for increasing the international circulation of research output, coauthorship, and global visibility. Within the Graduate Program at Tiradentes University, self-assessment studies have been developed, including those by Santo, Nunes, and Nascimento (2024) and Sobral, Ferronato, and Chagas (2025). The first study analyzes the impact of master's and doctoral education on graduates' personal and professional lives; the second examines the degree to which theses and dissertations align with the Program's research lines - Education and Communication and Education and Teacher Education - showing the degree of alignment between student academic production and the respective research lines.
The analysis proposed here takes the form of institutional self-reflection inspired by Schön's (2000) notion of reflective practice and seeks to understand the meanings, scope, and limits of the set of actions developed. Rather than adopting a merely inventory-based reading, it prioritizes the interpretation of their educational, scientific, and social-engagement effects while recognizing, as Santos (2017) problematizes, that internationalization processes can also reproduce asymmetries and dependencies and therefore require critical, solidarity-based, and context-sensitive approaches.
In the Capes evaluation form (Brasil, 2025), item 3.3, which addresses internationalization, presented the following PPED/UNIT actions:
For Table 1, the following abbreviations are used: International Symposium on Education and Communication (Simeduc); International Meeting on Teacher Education (Enfope); Permanent International Forum on Educational Innovation (Fopie); Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and artificial intelligence (AI).
3.1 Governance and institutionalization
The institution structures its internationalization policy through guidelines that include disseminating an institutional culture of internationalization, expanding collaborative networks, encouraging academic mobility, promoting joint research, creating mechanisms to welcome international students, and strengthening language education initiatives. These guidelines can be understood as part of an institutional governance model in which education policies operate as regulatory and inductive mechanisms for academic practices, as problematized by Giddens (2023) in his discussion of institutional reflexivity and by Ball (2012) in his analysis of policies as technologies for organizing and managing the field of education, which he refers to as policy convergence.
Within the Program, these guidelines provide organizational and programmatic conditions for implementing scientific cooperation, co-teaching, participation in international events, and continuing professional development through networks. This demonstrates that internationalization is not limited to individual initiatives but is anchored in institutional arrangements that enable continuity and broader reach. From this perspective, the governance of internationalization connects institutional and global scales and operates through networks, as Castells (2021) emphasizes in discussing the centrality of networks to the contemporary circulation of knowledge.
A key institutional milestone in this process was the creation of the Tiradentes Institute in 2017 at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston), conceived as a structure to support academic mobility, language education, and the development of academic and executive programs in the areas in which Grupo Tiradentes operates. The Institute, working in conjunction with the GRI, helps institutionalize flows, reduce dependence on isolated initiatives, and expand opportunities for cooperation, thus serving as an institutional mechanism for internationalization that connects policy, educational practice, and knowledge production.
Institutional governance of internationalization in the PPED is therefore evident not only in the formalization of guidelines but also in the creation of permanent structures that sustain the Program's international presence and foster the consolidation of academic networks, while at the same time underscoring the need to expand equity and the reach of these opportunities throughout the institution.
3.2 Internationalization at home and continuing professional development
One of the Program's central initiatives during the period analyzed is internationalization at home, understood as a set of internationalization practices developed on the institution's own campus without requiring international physical mobility by students or faculty. It therefore involves international experiences integrated into the curriculum, research, teacher education, and everyday academic life, expanding access to international education and reducing asymmetries, as advocated in contemporary approaches to the internationalization of higher education.
One of the Program's most consistent developments in this area was the strengthening of curriculum and educational internationalization, especially through courses involving international researchers, co-teaching, and teaching strategies mediated by digital technologies. These initiatives align with an understanding of continuing professional development as a collective and institutional process, as proposed by Nóvoa (2014), recognizing that faculty development is built through interaction, sharing, and reflection on practice.
In this context, the Research in Education course (required in the doctoral program), offered throughout the four-year cycle, incorporated topics such as internationalization, critical theory, globalization, comparative education, and decoloniality, with the participation of national and international researchers from institutions including UMass Boston, Boston College, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), ISMA University, and Molloy University.
Internationalization "on campus" also takes shape through the production of academic materials and science communication practices linked to the educational process, such as the development and dissemination of digital materials, strengthening competencies related to synthesis, scholarly communication, and international dialogue. The incorporation of resources such as Book Creator in 2024 and the circulation of these products on institutional platforms demonstrate not only teaching innovation but also networked learning and collective intelligence, as discussed by Lévy (2014).
In addition, the participation of international faculty in curricular components and the work of visiting professors reinforced continuing professional development as a reflective practice in Schön's (2000) sense by fostering epistemic, methodological, and cultural exchanges. In 2024, the First International Summer School was held as a result of the academic partnership between PPED/UNIT and the Faculty of Education at the University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain. The event focused on "Pesquisa Memoria y proyecto de la Educación" and provided an important setting for scientific and educational exchange among faculty, researchers, and students from the two institutions. During the event, faculty shared knowledge through lectures, seminars, and a thematic course offered within the PPED, strengthening international cooperation as an integrated pedagogical practice rather than one restricted to academic mobility.
These actions reinforce a systemic view of knowledge sharing and the possibility of preparing "global citizens" who respect otherness and are able to collaborate across national borders.
3.3 Internationalization of research
In the research dimension, international knowledge-production networks have expanded through co-supervision, participation of international professors on examination committees, shared courses, publications, and student mobility, including sandwich doctoral research stays. These actions reflect the Program's increasing integration into transnational scientific circuits in which research is developed relationally and collaboratively, consistent with Castells's (2021) understanding of the centrality of networks in the contemporary organization of knowledge.
The sandwich doctoral experience undertaken by two PPED students, with cosupervision and supervision at international institutions, constitutes a robust indicator of research integration because it tends to have direct effects on the methodological quality of the research, the expansion of theoretical repertoires, and the strengthening of long-term academic ties. This strategy goes beyond mobility itself by fostering processes of knowledge co-production, a dimension emphasized by Santos (2017) in discussing the need for less hierarchical and more solidarity-based forms of internationalization.
There are also concrete developments in research output and the consolidation of research agendas, including the development of studies in Comparative Education and publication in international journals. Over the four-year cycle, the Program produced articles, chapters, and edited books internationally, reflecting a consistent effort to bring its academic production into international venues. One example was the publication of the book "Políticas de Avaliação da Qualidade Educativa em Perspectiva Internacional," which brought together researchers from Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, and Colombia) and Europe (Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy) in a work with recognized international academic impact. The book involved two research groups: Grupo de Pesquisa Docência, Avaliação, Currículo e Contemporaneidade (GPDACC) and Memoria y Proyecto de la Educación (GIMPE) at USAL. Analytically, it is important to consider not only the volume of these publications but, above all, their nature: coauthored and network-based outputs tend to represent more symmetrical, sustainable, and educational forms of internationalization than isolated actions centered on individuals, with implications of global governance for academic research.
In this context, projects such as Tiradentes Solutions - Education Lab demonstrate a form of internationalization that connects innovation, education, and social applicability, especially when linked to public education networks and contemporary educational challenges. The participation of graduates and students in programs with an international dimension reinforces the continuity and reach of educational impact, indicating that research internationalization in the PPED is not limited to the period of formal education but also influences academic and professional trajectories.
It should also be noted that activities from the First International Summer School led to collaboration with USAL's Center for Brazilian Studies. This partnership enabled participation in the virtual seminar "O movimento do currículo na Educação Básica do Brasil: Reflexões," organized by the research group "Memoria y proyecto de la Educación." PPED faculty contributed to the event, consolidating scientific exchange between the institutions.
3.4 Local, regional, and national engagement and visibility
A central aspect of understanding the Program's internationalization concerns its connection with local and regional engagement, avoiding a separation between the international circulation of knowledge and commitment to the territory. Initiatives such as international academic events held at UNIT, including Simeduc and Enfope/Fopie, partnerships with public education networks, educational projects linked to the SDGs, and science communication activities mediated by digital technologies demonstrate that internationalization can strengthen the Program's regional presence rather than replace it.
From this perspective, visibility is not limited to publication in a foreign language or indexing in international databases; it is also expressed through the public circulation of knowledge and engagement with concrete social demands. This understanding is consistent with Martín-Barbero (2015), who highlights cultural mediation in the production of meaning, and with Lévy (2014), who emphasizes collective intelligence and the dissemination of knowledge in digital environments.
The participation of international speakers in events and courses, together with the production and availability of academic materials on institutional platforms, extends the Program's reach within the academic community and society and reinforces the connection among internationalization, scholarly communication, and social engagement.
3.5 Advances, tensions, and challenges
From a self-assessment perspective, the set of actions analyzed indicates that the PPED demonstrates consistency in four dimensions: (i) institutionalization of internationalization policies and structures; (ii) strengthening curriculum internationalization and continuing professional development; (iii) expansion of research networks and mobility; and (iv) articulation between academic visibility and regional engagement.
At the same time, the analysis also highlights the contradictory nature of the process, since some internationalization practices may approach fragmented logics that depend on material conditions such as funding, proficiency in foreign languages, and access to already consolidated networks, creating the risk of concentration in particular hubs and among a limited number of actors. This tension relates to Giddens's (2023) notion of institutional reflexivity as well as Stephen Ball's (2012) critique of performativity dynamics and the centrality of metrics in contemporary academic policies.
Challenges for the next cycle include increasing the sustainability and symmetry of international partnerships; diversifying cooperation networks, with particular attention to South-South partnerships (UNICEF, [2026]); systematizing qualitative indicators of educational and social impact; and strengthening internal mechanisms to ensure greater equity in access to internationalization opportunities.
4 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The analysis of PPED/UNIT's internationalization activities, in light of institutional self-reflection, makes it possible to understand internationalization not as an isolated set of initiatives but as a situated political-pedagogical process shaped by the dynamics of globalization, institutional conditions, and the educational choices made throughout the most recent four-year evaluation cycle.
Taking globalization as a structuring context, the PPED has responded through internationalization strategies that connect institutional governance, curriculum, research, continuing professional development, digital technologies, and social engagement. The existence of clear institutional policies, such as the PDI and PEI, together with the work of the GRI and the creation of structures such as the Tiradentes Institute, provides an important foundation for consolidating these actions within the Program.
From an educational perspective, the expansion of internationalization at home practices is particularly noteworthy, especially through shared courses, participation by international researchers, international events hosted at the institution, and the production of digital academic materials. These initiatives broaden access to international education, reduce asymmetries associated with physical mobility, and strengthen students' academic, critical, and communication competencies, reaffirming internationalization as a constitutive dimension of the curriculum and teacher education.
In research, the PPED's integration into international networks, sandwich doctoral research stays, co-supervision, participation of international faculty on examination committees, and collaborative research output demonstrate significant advances in the internationalization of knowledge production. Institutional selfreflection nevertheless makes it possible to recognize that these advances coexist with structural tensions, including the concentration of partnerships in particular hubs, dependence on material conditions of funding and language proficiency, and the risk of fragmented practices or practices excessively driven by visibility metrics.
Regarding local, regional, and national engagement, PPED internationalization does not occur at the expense of its territory; rather, it tends to strengthen the Program's work by connecting international cooperation, teacher education, scientific events, and knowledge-dissemination activities with concrete social demands. In this sense, internationalization becomes a means of strengthening the Program's social relevance when guided by principles of cooperation, solidarity, and public responsibility.
Finally, this self-reflective analysis shows that PPED internationalization is undergoing a process of maturation marked by consistent advances and by challenges that require systematization, continuity, and deeper critical engagement. The main priorities for the coming cycles include consolidating a Program-specific internationalization plan, expanding and diversifying cooperation networks (particularly from South-South perspectives), strengthening qualitative indicators of educational and social impact, and institutionalizing practices that ensure equitable access to internationalization opportunities.
Internationalization is therefore understood not as an end in itself but as a means of enhancing education, research, and social engagement, reaffirming the Program's commitment to critical, situated, and socially grounded graduate education that can engage with the world without losing sight of its local and regional responsibilities.
AI USE STATEMENT
The artificial intelligence tools NotebookLM and ChatGPT were used to support the development of the visual representations in Figure 1 and Table 1.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The complete dataset supporting the results of this study was published within the article itself.
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Source: prepared by the authors based on data from the international relations unit of