COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Brazilian Postgraduate Research: An Exploratory Study at Two Federal Institute Programmes

Abstract

The education area is being deeply affected by COVID-19, and Brazilian students are trying to adapt. This chapter aims to research how postgraduate students are dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. From the following research question, “How did COVID-19 impact different dimensions of students´ lives enrolled at master and doctorate programmes?” the chapter describes the challenges that students from Master and Doctorate programmes of two federal institutes are dealing with and the future perspectives in the context of the pandemic. The research methodology is based on an exploratory approach, grounded on a survey for data regarding the impacts of COVID-19 in three dimensions: private life, professional life, and academic life, aiming to understand if and how their research and educational products development were affected. The results show that, despite stress and efforts, the students could adapt their research for the pandemic situation.

Key Terms in this Chapter

PROPEC: Vocational Master and Doctorate programmes from IFRJ.

IFRJ: Federal institute of Rio de Janeiro located in Nilópolis municipality at Rio de Janeiro state.

Federal Network of Vocational Education (FNVE): Huge Brazilian government public network of vocational education.

YAE: Young and Adult Education.

Educational Product: Part of the dissertation or thesis Scopus in the Brazilian vocational postgraduate programmes, referring to a Technical-applied product.

APNP: Brazilian acronym for distance pedagogical activities.

IFF: Fluminense Federal Institute located in Campos dos Goytacazes municipality at Rio de Janeiro state.

MPET: Vocational Master program from IFF.

Federal Institute (FI): A unit of the Brazilian Federal Network of Vocational Education