3 MEC rules for digitizing and managing documents in Higher Education
Think about the number of students that attend each Higher Education educational institution and view a series of documents in the academic life of each one. If you multiply this number by each existing class and then by each active course, you will be left with an exorbitant amount of files, which need to be received, organized, and stored.
This is where the MEC rules for digitizing these processes come into play. The idea is to use technology to make it possible to manage all these tasks, through which educational and management processes are fulfilled, to guarantee the transparency and accessibility of the data, to provide convenient channels for its delivery, to allow efficient storage and security of information, observing, of course, the LGPD in education.
Depending on the scale of the educational institution, its structure may consist of many divisions, as well as different activities and functions. But regardless of your case, there are a number of common benefits in the digitization and management of documents in Higher Education, among which we can mention:
- Creation of a unique database in the organization;
- Ease and efficiency in working with documentation, allowing you to search and access the records of students, suppliers, and collaborators quickly, easily and safely;
- Minimization of file loss;
- Control over documentation = efficient storage;
- Protection of private information, keeping it safe and free from unauthorized access;
- It improves the efficiency of the entire organization.
That said, let's look at some of the regulations issued by the Ministry of Education (MEC) to simplify the organizational complexity of universities that have to deal with this vast amount of information and materials on a daily basis. After all, did you know that the pulp and paper industry spends the most on natural resources, such as water and wood?
“HEIs use a lot of paper. On a single day, a single teacher normally uses between 25 and 75 pages each day to deliver tests, homework, and resources to students. (...) The average amount of paper used daily is around 2,000 pages, and when examining annual totals, that number skyrockets. In one year, an institution can use around 360,000 sheets of paper (with 180 school days). (...) Now, when it comes to costs, the average price per page is 5 cents, which means that in this case, where 34 billion pages are consumed annually, providing physical documentation for each student would cost around 2 billion a year”.
Recordnations.com
1. Digital academic collection (Decree No. 9,235/2017 and Ordinances No. 315/2018, No. 332/2020 and No. 360/2022)
The MEC has been striving for a long time to definitively implement the conversion of the physical academic record to the digital one in Brazilian higher education institutions. In 2017, Decree No. 9,235 proposed the design of a digital academic collection, using a method that guarantees the integrity and authenticity of all information contained in the original documents.
In this sense, to complement the standard, Ordinance No. 315/2018 determined a period of 24 months for Higher Education HEIs to digitize their files.
However, this deadline was extended for another 48 months by Ordinance No. 332/2020, i.e., the deadline for this scan was extended to 05/04/2022.
However, given the difficulties faced by some institutions, this deadline was extended again with Ordinance No. 360/2022.
Finally, the current Ordinance 360 of the MEC and the digitization of HEIs when updating the regulations to automate and digitize the educational management of Brazilian HEIs, it prohibits the production of new documents included in the academic collection in physical format As of August 1, 2022 and provides the following deadlines for its conversion into a digital medium:
- 12 months, for the set of documents relating to the academic life of students enrolled in higher education courses offered by HEIs;
- 24 months, for the set of documents relating to the academic life of students graduated in the period between January 1, 2016 and the date of publication of this Ordinance; and
- 36 months, for the set of documents relating to the academic life of students graduated from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2015.
2. Digital Diploma (Ordinance No. 330/2018)
With advances in technology in the digital age, it no longer makes sense to print a certificate, frame it and hang it on the wall. The modernity of our time always requires more dynamic and agile options.
In this sense, digital diploma It is the digitized version of the document that students receive at the end of graduation, containing the same information and characteristics as the physical version, but in virtual format.
This is because, when it comes to printing on paper, aspects related to consumption and disrespect for nature come to mind.
Therefore, the intention of this standard is to enable simple and efficient access to the document wherever you are, from any device. You can store it on multiple devices, through physical options (flash drive, external hard drive, on a computer or memory card) or remotely (a cloud server, in an email folder, on a storage site).
In addition, in terms of credibility and trust, the digital diploma is more efficient than the printed one, since this option has a security key that allows access and guarantees its authenticity.
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3. e-MEC registration (Ordinance No. 21/2017)
According to its official website, the e-MEC Register is a electronic system to monitor the processes that regulate Higher Education in Brazil, making up the official database of Higher Education courses and Institutions.
According to paragraph 1 of article 4 of the respective regulation, “digital files and records will be valid for all legal purposes and will remain available for internal and external audits of the Ministry of Education/MEC”.
If a citizen wishes to consult the declaration of regularity of courses and institutions, they must use the Digital Desk to complete their service.
Thus, the e-MEC is fundamental for the management of HEIs from the moment they are created, since both the authorizing acts and the protocols of the regulatory processes for maintaining the authorization for the operation of the institution and offering the courses must be digitized for the system to work properly, simplifying the procedures for the accreditation and re-accreditation of higher education institutions.
To be ready for tomorrow, HEIs need to take advantage of the technology tools available today
A robust online document management system is part of the core needed to operate in this new environment and the implementation of remote management tools provide unique opportunities to optimize billing and productivity today and be ready for the future tomorrow.
In fact, physical paper documents and storage are less efficient, harmful to the environment, and less secure. Upgrading your educational institution to a digital space will help streamline your processes and reduce overheads, making it possible to produce more with less.
Additionally, digitized, accurate, and centralized data helps those responsible to make informed and more accurate decisions about class sizes and offerings, as well as the number of staff and teachers needed in a given campus and/or semester.
Therefore, if you want to digitize your Higher Education processes, as the world's leading universities do, in an applicable and legally valid manner, don't waste time and learn how Clicksign can be your ally in this process: click here and talk to an expert.
