A política científica brasileira de internacionalização e seus impactos para a Pós-Graduação em Psicologia

Abstract

In recent years, accompanying national scientific policies, internationalization has received significant attention in the field of Psychology in Brazil, especially in graduate studies, the primary area of scientific activity in the country. This process involves different directions, with issues that affect the course of scientific development and its social function in the capitalist order. As such, we aimed to discuss the internationalization process outlined by Brazilian graduate studies in psychology. We analyzed the content of 36 documents published by the national scientific policy and the National Association for Research and Graduate Studies in Psychology. We found that internationalization promoted by Brazilian scientific policy, which seeks to increase the country’s international competitiveness, is predominantly market based; it focuses primarily on the Natural Sciences and cooperation with Northern hemisphere countries. In these conditions, a large part of human and social sciences have less space to conduct their internationalization process – especially those critically placed in relation to the current order and for which internationalization includes other paths rarely considered by policies, such as establishing relations with Southern hemisphere countries. This scenario reverberates in Psychology, whose levels of internationalization are greater for graduate programs in subareas closer to the Natural Sciences and lower for programs in and Social Sciences, and is reflected in the different internationalization trends in the area. We concluded that in order for Psychology to contribute with relevant answers to the needs that affect the Brazilian population, it should promote internationalization in contrast to the market trends that guide this process. It should, therefore, demand a change in the role of science, in favor of the full development of humanity, possible only through the structural transformation of society, a struggle that cannot be limited to the walls of academia.