This paper analyses the higher education evaluation policy, the SINAES, with special emphasis on the action and role of the Evaluation Commissions (CPA) in relation to the implementation process of institutional evaluation in the federal universities. The CPA's activities are analysed in order to problematise the SINAES' dynamic of implementation of institutional evaluation. The assumption is that the lack of familiarity by the academic community with theories, methodologies and practices of assessment has been detrimental to the adoption of a concept of evaluation closer to the principles and theoretical and methodological assumptions of Sinaes. Data collection was carried out through interview with CPA's components in two federal universities situated in the Northeast of Brazil. Policy documents and higher education legislation were also examined. The conclusion reveals that the SINAES has not succeeded to institute the practice of system evaluation based on the subjectivist paradigm.
Higher education; Self-evaluation; SINAES; CPA; Federal universities