DOES THE CIÊNCIA SEM FRONTEIRAS PROGRAM CONTRIBUTES TO THE STUDENTS’ FORMATION? AN ANALYSIS FROM ENADE 2013

Abstract

This article aims to measure the effect of the Ciências sem Fronteiras program
(CSF) in the students’ academic formation, by presenting estimates of its impact on the
grades of the beneficiaries, using the microdata of the Exame Nacional de Desempenho
de Estudantes (Enade) 2013. The methodology used was the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) for the purpose of compare the CSF’s students with a two control group: a)
students who not participated of study abroad; b) students who participated of study
abroad programs other than the CSF. The results reveal that the CSF program has a
positive and significant impact in two student’s performance measures (general grade
and general knowledge) taking into consideration different algorithms to match the
pairs independent the comparison group. However, the results are small compared to
the costs of the program.