Assessment of faculty members’ scholarly production at Universidad de Costa Rica: context and problematization

Abstract

This article aims to problematize the criteria through which faculty members’ publications and artistic work is analyzed and graded by the so-called Academic Regime Commission, the board in charge of assessing faculty members’ academic production at the University of Costa Rica, with special reference to four criteria cited in the regulations to evaluate the academic production of permanent teaching staff: originality, relevance, transcendence and complexity. We attempt to critically examine the relevance of the notions and criteria for academic merit from an intercultural and decolonial perspective. In fact, the issue of assessment of scholarly production in the university is perceived as sensitive in academia and is simultaneously bound to the internationalization of knowledge -an issue as political as education broadly is.