Developing Competencies in Higher Education: Insights from a Brazilian Higher Education Institution

This paper examines the connections and influences of the job market in a Brazilian higher education setting. Adopting a qualitative approach and a technical case study procedure, open and semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed through the discursive textual analysis technique. From the words of the Dean and the Chair of a business management program in a Brazilian higher education institution and the employers of some of its graduates, the authors note that the education delivered is directly influenced and fueled by actual problems and settings in the labor market. Nonetheless, the same market that welcomes these new professionals does not realize its influence and still requires certain behavioral and interpersonal skills from them.