1 Introduction

Social demands and control have increased the discussions about the need for strategic plans aimed at a public administration committed to the interests of the population (^{ULTRAMARI; REZENDE, 2008}). Moreover, budget cuts have been directly affecting the production of knowledge, the training of professionals and researchers, as well as the necessary infrastructure for conducting research and the survival of research institutions (^{SERAFIM; DIAS; ETULAIN, 2021}).

Some authors criticize strategic planning models and indicate that such tools cannot be treated as simple analysis of predetermined variables and need to adapt to new demands. For example, ^{Souza (2011)} questions whether the level of formalization of strategic planning practice in organizations cannot be defined by the structuring of the practice in its social dynamics.

For other researchers, organizations concentrate a lot of effort in the elaboration of the plan and end up failing in its implementation. The reasons that lead to these failures are: "lack of discipline, low motivation to perform the activities, the difficulties in bringing people together, holding meetings, and fulfilling the milestones, and mainly, the need to deliver results in the complex routine" (^{NEVES; GRAY, 2020}). However, these remarks do not diminish the need for public organizations to anticipate scenarios and establish long term goals in a collective manner, ensuring the participation of the community. This applies to Public Universities - given the complexities that permeate these organizations (^{OLIVEIRA; PINTO; MENDONÇA, 2020}).

Welsha et al. (2006 apud^{BARBOSA; LÖBLER, 2020}), when contextualizing the university environment, reinforce the difficulty in ensuring the involvement of the academic community in the decision making processes. The authors indicate that the involvement at a reasonable level is one of the aspects that can influence the organizational support to the planning process. ^{Meyer (2007)} also points out the difficulty in finding consensus in universities. ^{Staci et al. (2021)} researched the link between strategies and budgetary issues in public universities.

^{Christopher, Morphew and Stensaker (2018)}, on the other hand, linked university performance and the strategic objectives of some North American and Northern European institutions. Furthermore, ^{Clark (2004)} argues that universities that pursue more market-oriented paths and entrepreneurial trajectories tend to distance themselves from the missions linked to their public functions.

The above arguments reinforce the idea that universities' strategic plans express how university leaders, students, academics, and administrative staff should aim for and fulfill their social roles – including considering the statement of their values and pedagogical means (^{MOLLY; TONE; CIARAN, 2019}).

Considering the importance of the theme, some works have sought to understand how these institutions have formulated their institutional statements. For example, ^{Reyder (2011)} conducted an analysis on universities based only in the State of Santa Catarina, as well as Mizael et al., (2012) who studied the Institutional Development Plans (PDI) of four Federal Universities of Minas Gerais, and ^{Silva et al., (2013a)} who extended the analysis to eight universities. ^{Freitas et al. (2019)} used the elements proposed by Pearce and David (1987) and expanded the database, but omitted to discuss institutional visions and values. ^{Griboski, Peixoto and Hora (2018)} studied the importance of the IDP and the relationship with external evaluation and self-assessment.

Moreover, as ^{Barbosa and Löbler (2020)}, address the participation and involvement of the academic community, one realizes the need to verify the methodologies and administrative tools used in the construction of IDPs. Thus, this article aims to identify, from the IDPs, what are the forms of collective participation, administrative tools and issues prioritized and expressly revealed by federal universities in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil in their institutional statements.

2 Theoretical Framework

3 Methodology

This research is defined as quali-quantitative, descriptive in nature, through documentary research. The population of this study comprises the Federal Universities (FU) based in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil.

The data collection procedures were carried out by searching the website of the Associação Nacional dos Dirigentes das Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior (Andifes), in order to identify the Federal Universities (FU) based in the states of the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil. Once the population to be studied was identified, we sought to locate the IDPs of these institutions on their websites.

After collecting the IDPs, a checklist was applied to identify the forms of collective participation, administrative tools, and issues prioritized and explicitly revealed in the institutional statements of the federal universities in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil.

The data were tabulated and treated in Excel spreadsheet, following the previously established analysis criteria, according to Figure 1. It is noteworthy that the criteria used in the analysis of institutional missions are part of the theoretical model of the Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (2019): skills, values, stakeholders (or steering group), and impact. ^{ENAP (2019)} also indicates the variables for the vision: a) ambitious goal, b) niche definition, and the c) time frame. The Strategic Themes were analyzed in the research on the structure of the plans.

Source: Elaborated by the authors.

Figure 1 Analysis Criteria 

As for the analysis of participation, the research went beyond the quantitative identification and sought to analyze the forms of internal mobilization. As for the tabulation of control mechanisms, it was limited to verifying the existence of tools. Regarding the tools that help the planning process, the data bring quantitative results and a description of the tools used. The data were also treated seeking to identify the structure of the target plans, observing their time frame.

When a situation was verified in which the IDP was not in effect, data were collected from the previous IDP. Furthermore, the Wordart was used to build the word clouds based on the institutional statements of the universities.

4 Discussion and Results

Eighteen federal universities based in the Northeast region were studied, 4 in the State of Bahia, 3 in Ceará, 2 in Pernambuco, 2 in Paraíba, 2 in Rio Grande do Norte, 1 in Piauí, 1 in Alagoas, 1 in Sergipe, 1 in Maranhão and 1 based in Pernambuco, but with campuses in Bahia and Piauí. In the Southeast region of Brazil, 19 Federal Universities were studied, 3 in the State of São Paulo, 1 in Espírito Santo, 4 in Rio de Janeiro and 11 in the State of Minas Gerais (Chart 1).

As for the mechanisms and possibilities of community participation in the construction of IDPs, it appears that of the eighteen federal universities in the Northeast, seventeen of them used collaborative mechanisms, as shown in Figure 2. The participatory model reached all universities in the Southeast, meeting what establishes the theoretical discussion: the long-term objectives should be developed in a collective way, ensuring community participation - which includes public universities, given the complexities that permeate these organizations (^{OLIVEIRA; PINTO; MENDONÇA, 2020}).

Source: Elaborated by the authors

Figure 2 Participation Mechanisms × Monitoring Prediction × Assistance Tools 

The data indicate that the mechanisms used to enable the collective construction of the IDP are diverse. Most universities use more than one means to encourage collaboration. Among the most frequent means are: public consultation and the institution of thematic commissions. In the Southeast region, 10 universities used public consultation, while in the Northeast there were 7. As for the commissions, 8 and 7 were the universities that chose the mechanism in the Southeast and Northeast, respectively. Other ways of mobilizing the communities were: events for sharing experiences; work groups; mails and electronic sites; and appreciation and deliberation with the Higher Councils.

On the other hand, there is no record in the documents analyzed of deliberate efforts made in order to balance the participation of internal and external stakeholders in the universities studied, as suggested by ^{Balbachevsky, Sampaio and Andrade (2019)}.

In the analysis on the mechanisms for monitoring the IDP, the data indicate that only two universities per region did not declare the formats or mechanisms for monitoring their plans (Figure 2). The results are consistent with the literature, since the construction of strategic objectives needs clearly specific goals, determining specific deadlines for each of them, while establishing those responsible for monitoring, in order to simplify and streamline the strategic monitoring (^{MACHADO; KALNIN; MORAES, 2020}).

Figure 1 also summarizes the frequency of use of strategic planning tools in the analyzed IDPs. In this aspect, only half of the northeastern universities expressly declared in their IDPs that they use tools to assist Planning. Although still far from an expected result, around 70% of the federal universities in the Southeast region indicated the use of some tool, such as: Balanced ScoreCard, ForPDI, 5W2H, Project Management System, PMBOK.

Another analysis of this study concerns the time frame of the IDPs (Figure 3). The universities in these regions presented close averages, in years: 5.42 and 6.22 for the Southeastern and Northeastern FU, in that order. These are high averages, which may hinder flexibility and adjustments to constantly changing scenarios. ^{McGrath (2013)}, for example, questions the timeframe for achieving sustainable competitive advantages. According to the author, organizations need a new roadmap, in which opportunities are taken advantage of quickly, exploiting them decisively and moving forward before they are exhausted. Thus, planning with long time frames may present itself as an obstacle to the use of transitory advantages, especially in such unstable environments.

Source: elaborated by the authors.

Figure 3 IDP Time Frame 

As for the organization of the target plans, one notices great similarity in the choices made by the analyzed universities, according to Figure 4. The manner of structuring the plans in the IDPs based on "thematic axes" was chosen by 12 of the 37 universities, 6 of which in the Southeast and 6 in the Northeast. The choice for the method of thematic axes by the universities studied is due to the fact that the normative instructions of the Ministério da Educação require universities to include the thematic axes in the assessment process (^{MIZAEL, 2013}).

Source: elaborated by the authors

Figure 4 Structure (Organization) of the Target Plan 

Other forms of structures found were strategic maps, strategic challenges, macro objectives, management plans, among others. However, data analysis did not allow the identification of how 6 universities organized their targe plans in their respective IDPs, as was the case of UFAL and UNILAB in the Northeast and UFMG, UFSJ and UFRRJ, in the Southeast.

Regarding the criteria used in the construction of the institutional mission of federal universities, as guided by ^{ENAP (2019)}: a) skills; b) values; c) stakeholders (steering group) and; d) impact, about 70% of the universities in the Northeast reached the totality of the required aspects, except UFOB, UFCA, UFRN, UFPB, UFS and UFCG -which did not contemplate the steering group. UFS made no mention of the impact and UFCG disregarded its values, according to Chart 2.

As for the Universities of the Southeast, approximately 56% of them reached the totality of the variables suggested by ENAP and only UFABC did not declare, in its mission, "the purpose of the organization's action" (^{ENAP, 2019, p. 14}). The data highlights the need, in case of revision of these statements, to seek to define all "those who affect, are affected by, or may be affected by the organization" (^{ENAP, 2019, p. 10}). This includes external and internal stakeholders.

Cristopher et al., (2018), in their study of how Northern European and North American universities' strategic plans balance competitive identities, record that critics of governance reforms are not optimistic about the nature of public universities' ambitions. They argue that universities that are more market oriented and entrepreneurial are more likely to deviate from missions connected to their public functions. However, when analyzing the tabulated data regarding the missions of institutions in Northeastern and Southeastern Brazil, at least in this regard, it is possible to observe that all of them are more aligned with their essential functions.

Chart 02 also brings information about the Vision of the Federal Universities. Among the 18 federal universities in the Northeast, only UFBA applied the three criteria studied: a) ambitious goal; b) niche definition and; c) time frame - UNILAB, UFERSA and UFMA did not declare their vision in the IDP. No other university, besides UFBA, has established a time frame for its main long-term goal. 72% of them presented some definition of niche and its ambitious goal, with UFOB and UFSB not delimiting this goal and UFS and UFPB not explicitly defining their niche.

In the Southeast region, none of the universities made explicit their time frame for achieving what their vision establishes. UFABC, UFJF, UFMG and UFSI (25% of the universities) have not explicitly established the institutional vision statement in the IDP, as seen in Chart 2. It is recalled that the vision "illustrates what an organization wishes to be recognized for, or the transformation it intends to produce over a given period of time" (^{ENAP, 2019, p. 12}). Thus, in future revisions of this statement, these UFs should observe the other criteria.

In a broad analysis regarding the mission, it is observed that the universities in the Northeast and Southeast of Brazil compose this statement with the presence of good elements, in opposition to the arguments raised by scholars of governance reforms. As for the vision, one perceives the same course as was pointed out with respect to Northern European universities, as mentioned by ^{Christopher, Morphew and Stensaker (2018)}, when they showed that in contrast to Northern Universities in the

United States, many Northern European universities include generic institutional mission statements, accompanied by more abstract narratives elaborated with key ideas and visions that lack easily measurable outputs.

In order to complement the analysis, considering the dispositions, we sought to count the frequency of use of the concepts in the construction of the missions, visions, and values. The following data will be presented in the form of word clouds for better graphic visualization. In addition, the first 10 (ten) concepts used are listed. The following criteria were used to create the word clouds: words with the highest frequency and with a weight greater than 5 (five).

The survey data indicate that the three concepts most used by the researched HEIs to state their institutional mission are the concepts of Development (weight 15), Training (weight 15) and Knowledge (weight 14). The weight of the Development concept in the Northeastern region influenced the weight of the concept in the general analysis of the main concepts, as shown above.

When analyzed by region, the three main concepts that carry most weight in the institutional statements of the Northeastern HEIs were: Development (weight 12), Knowledge (weight 11), and Disseminate (weight 6). One notices that, due to regional insertion, the reason for being of the FU must be influenced by the search to help build and disseminate knowledge, giving strong importance to regional development.

On the other hand, in the Southeast, the main concepts were: Society (weight 11), Teaching (weight 8), Extension (weight 8), and Research (weight 8). It can be observed that the region's FUs give greater weight to the recognition and involvement of society in their raison d'être statements, in addition to reinforcing the academic tripod with equivalent weights: Teaching, Research and Extension.

Source: elaborated by the authors.

Figure 5 Word cloud of the FU's Institutional Mission 

Analyzing the institutional visions, it is noteworthy that the main concept used, both overall and by region, was the concept of Excellence (weight 17). This can be interpreted as the main ambitious goal defined by the studied universities.

The second most used concept was University (weight 12) and the next, Development (weight 10). Once again there is a concept focused on the future and the impact desired by the FU for the medium and long term. Regarding the regional analysis, no major differences were identified between the two regions analyzed. Excellence was the main objective to be reached by these universities, as shown in Figure 6.

Source: Elaborated by the authors.

Figure 6 Word Cloud of the FU's Institutional Vision 

In the item Values, the institutional statements of the analyzed FUs present a diversity of concepts used to demonstrate the motivations and ways of managing the organizations. The concept of Social Responsibility (weight 21) stands out as one of the main values mentioned.

Source: Elaborated by the authors.

Figure 7 Word Cloud of the FU's Values 

Other concepts that can be highlighted are Diversity, Sustainability, Accountability, Transparency, Innovation, and Democracy. These terms seem to be concepts dear to the FUs. As a result of the diversity of actors that make up the academic community, the highlighted values can and should be included to give more weight to them and to declare to society how the administrations are committed to the new social demands and to insert new themes in the public debate.

5 Closing Remarks

The article identified, based on the IDPs, what forms of collective participation, administrative tools and issues are prioritized and expressly revealed by the federal universities in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil in their institutional statements.

By means of a descriptive investigation, of both qualitative and quantitative nature, and using documental research, the study covered the 37 FUs based in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil, being 18 and 19 in the regional distribution, respectively. Prior to the comparison of the data present in the IDPs of these universities, it was necessary to search the electronic sites of the aforementioned document, as well as to draw up a checklist to identify the pre-established criteria.

The data point to the following results: a) the participatory model for building the IDP, using different means, reached almost all the universities - although there is no effort to balance the participation of internal and external actors; b) only two universities per region did not declare the formats or mechanisms for monitoring their plans; c) universities in the Southeast region, compared to those in the Northeast, more frequently recorded in their IDPs the use of strategic planning tools, such as: Balanced ScoreCard, ForPDI, 5W2H, Project Management System; d) the researched universities presented close averages for the time frame of their respective IDPs, in years: 5.42 and 6.22 for the universities in the Southeast and Northeast, in that order. This range - with high averages - can make it difficult to be flexible and adjust to constant scenario changes; e) a great similarity was identified in the choices made by the FUs as to how to structure the plans in the IDPs. The "thematic axes" were chosen by 32% of the universities, 6 in the Southeast and 6 in the Northeast; f) in future revisions of their institutional statements, the FUs need to observe and guarantee the presence of other elements that contribute to the mobilization and execution of their plans. In this study, only the Universidade Federal da Bahia met the elements studied.

Finally, word clouds were produced to bring out concepts dear to these universities. The results, in general, showed that the missions are focused on regional insertion and development. With a focus on society, the visions elected the concept "Excellence" as an ambitious goal, and the concept of "Social Responsibility" is the most frequent in the organizational values.

As a limitation of the research, it is registered the fact that some universities do not have their IDPs in effect, as well as the size of the population being limited to the Northeast and Southeast regions. This last limitation becomes an opportunity for future research, expanding the investigation and strengthening comparisons with universities in other regions. Moreover, the current survey may allow research to be developed with the aim of analyzing possible correlation between the process of building the IDP and its level of execution.