Panorama dos cursos de graduação em nutrição no contexto brasileiro

Abstract

Since the creation of the first Undergraduate Nutrition Course (UNC) in Brazil in 1939, these courses have undergone profound transformations. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the current UNC offerings in Brazil for situational diagnosis, describing institutional and academic aspects, as well as associations and temporal trends of interest. This is a descriptive study with a quantitative approach, utilizing data available in the e-MEC registry collected in June 2024. The analyses were conducted using the R Software, version 4.3.1. Out of 3,005 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) consulted, 977 UNC were found, of which 819 are face-to-face and 158 are EaD (with 6,906 campuses). The Southeast region accounts for 45.04% (N = 440) of the mapped courses. Most courses are in private HEIs, in university centers, offered in the evening, and with workloads of up to 3,200 hours. In the Southeast, South, and Northeast regions, the majority of UNC are in rural areas. Regarding the ENADE score, the Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast regions have approximately 11% of programs with the highest score, while the North region has no programs with score 5. There has been a progressive increase in the EaD modality over the past decade and a trend towards a higher proportion of courses offered by private HEIs. Spearman correlation analysis between variables and the ENADE score revealed that the total workload showed a moderate positive correlation in the Northeast region (0.47) and a weak positive correlation in the Midwest (0.22) and Southeast (0.22) regions. The course's start date showed a moderate positive correlation in the Midwest (0.58) and weak positive correlation in other regions. In contrast, the total number of vacancies showed a moderate negative correlation in the Northeast (-0.46) and North (-0.36) regions. The panorama of UNC offerings reveals inequities and contradictions. The results of this study may serve to foster discussions on strategies to improve UNC at the political, institutional, and professional association levels, enabling continuous improvements in nutritionists' education in the country.