Avaliação do programa bolsas de permanência da Universidade Federal do Pampa por seus usuários

Abstract

This paper analyses the Permanence Scholarships Program at Pampa Federal University (UNIPAMPA) through the perspective of the benefited students. The study, of exploratory character, involved the realization of a quantitative and qualitative research. The qualitative one, which was carried out as a bibliographic and documental research, subsidized the formulation of the research instrument and the comprehension of aspects related to the higher education, students’ assistance and the new model of public management, as well as those related to the implementation of UNIPAMPA and the conception of the program. The quantitative one, consisted of a field research, with the application of a structured questionnaire composed of 37 questions, contemplating three areas of investigation: the profile of the students awarded with scholarships, the program’s efficiency noticed and the needs in relation to students’ assistance. 220 out of the 286 questionnaires of the sample were answered between April and May 2011. The questionnaires were tabulated with the help of the SPSS software and analyzed by descriptive statistics, through frequency and content. The research has revealed, as a whole, that the benefited students receive the three kinds of assistances of the program, present a monthly family income lower than two national minimum wages, are young, economically dependent on parents or relatives, study during daytime and have as main claim a university restaurant. Although the program has been recognized as the responsible for enabling the permanence in the university, the students have expressed the necessity for adequacy of the amount of money paid because they are insufficient.