Introduction: In Brazil, the undergraduate dental education still remains fragmented and dissociated from its social context, with emphasis on the individualistic and private aspects of dental health. This study aimed to analyze the training and development of university professors of dentistry in stricto sensu postgraduate programs in Brazil.
Materials and methods: Delphi electronic methodology was used within a qualitative-quantitative design to gather data from a panel of 58 experts. Discussions representing the analytic axis focused on: (i) the evaluative processes of higher education, in particular stricto sensu postgraduate programs, and their influence on academic activities in undergraduate dentistry courses and (ii) policies for training and developing university professors.
Results: Of the experts, 30 participated in the first round, 24 in the second, and 19 in the third. They considered the training of university professors in dentistry to be highly specialized and technologically focused and indicated the review of political-pedagogic aspects of the educational sphere, as well as the social, economic, cultural, epidemiologic, and professional aspects of training and preparation prescribed by the National Curricular Guides for graduate courses in dentistry. An adequate process of evaluating the official organs and regulators of postgraduate stricto sensu programs, as well the programs themselves, should be implemented.
Conclusion: The experts stated that changes to the university teaching system are necessary, even in the field of dentistry. Mechanisms for evaluating areas and professors were inadequate, and the training was overly specialized and not consistent with the social reality of the country.
Keywords: Dentistry; assessment; postgraduate.
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