Centrality Metrics and Graduate Program Evolution: The Case of Production Engineering Graduate Programs in Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, graduate courses are evaluated by the National Graduate Program System and regulated by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), an agency linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC). The intellectual production of the faculty of the programs is the main criteria in determining a program's grade. In this study, we verified whether the grade attributed to the programs is dependent on the co-authorship network of the faculty of the program. Particularly, we analyze whether programs composed mostly by faculty members who cooperate in academic productions and have a more central position in the co-authorship network perform better than those with faculty with fewer collaboration. The paper concludes that there is a relation between the programs' grade and the number of faculty members that collaborates in their intellectual productions. It is also concluded that programs that improved the grade are composed mainly of faculty members with high centrality or have few faculty members with low centrality measures. Moreover, programs that have decreased their grade are formed mainly by faculty members with low centrality measures or with few faculty members with high centrality measures.