Abstract:

In the context of cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries (PSC), international cooperation for development (ICD), in line with the concept presented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 1980), is the focus of the study. In the last years, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have become increasingly ICD actors. However the resulting knowledge of institutional partnerships is still spark, very dispersed and isolated, and there is no disseminating and integrative policy of experience.

Considering that Science Education plays a decisive role in the development of sustainable societies, the study presents a global scenario of cooperation in Science Education in higher education, in particular those involving education of (future) teachers. The discussion is based on the problematization of a database constituted by 189 protocols established between Portuguese public universities (PPU) and institutions in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor (2000-2015). The information was gathered by analyzing the contents available on the official websites of the PPU and the corresponding institutional partners.

The following results are highlighted:
i) apparent similar institutional weight of cooperation in Science Education and cooperation focused on Portuguese literature and culture:
ii) great disparity of communication strategies of the PPU;
iii) Relevance and complexity of the protocols, namely those involving teacher education; and
iv) absence (of visibility) of practices of evaluation and monitoring of the protocols by the actors involved.

From the analysis of these results, the authors identify several key-challenges related to the work that has been developed, namely the articulation of the different institutional protocols in order to boost their mission, results and quality. Based on the discussion of these challenges, specific recommendations are delineated, such as the need to include/integrate in the cooperation protocols monitoring and assessment strategies capable of involving all the partners in an equal basis.

It is aimed that the discussion around those recommendations within the conference will contribute to a more integrative vision of ICD among PSC.

Keywords:

Monitoring, quality, evaluation, protocol cooperation, international cooperation for development, higher education.