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Introduction: This article analyzes the issue of Capacities for the implementation of public policies. The article examines the concepts of state capacity, policy capacities and policy work to analyze the role of bureaucratic roles in the implementation process. The article criticizes the concept of state capacities and advocates a perspective that the analysis of capacities should be focused on the performance of agents for the fulfillment of public policy functions. Materials and methods: Based on a survey analysis with agents of civil service bureaucracy, the article lists the central capacities for the performance of functions necessary for the implementation of public policies. Results: The theoretical finding is that capacity analysis should consider the role of individuals in the performance of policy functions and the organizational context in which they are embedded. Discussion: This article contributes to the literature on bureaucracy and governance in Brazil.

The study aimed to verify the nutritional status of students of the final years of elementary school from a public school on the western border of Rio Grande do Sul. The sample consisted of 222 students from 6th to 9th grade of elementary school. Nutritional status was assessed based on the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and age and gender of the student, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - IPAQ Short Version. To analyze eating habits and nutrition knowledge, a questionnaire based on pre-existing questionnaires was applied. It was observed that 56.7% of students had normal weight in relation to height, age and gender (eutrophy), however, were found high rates of overweight and obesity, which together reach 42.8% of the sample. Regarding eating habits, most students were classified as “regular eating habits” (77.6%), followed by “bad eating habits” (18%) and “good eating habits” (4.4%). Regarding nutritional knowledge, it was found that 85.3% were classified with low nutritional knowledge, 14.7% with moderate nutritional knowledge and none with high nutritional knowledge. Regarding the level of habitual physical activity, most are classified as “Active” (66.5%) or “Very Active” (28.1%), while 4.3% were classified as “Irregularly Active A”. and 1.1% as “Irregularly Active B”. In general, students have a higher body mass index than expected for their height and age (overweight / obese), with regular eating habits, with a large deficit in terms of nutritional knowledge and are physically active.

This article investigates the efficiency of the university education using two linked databases (Saber Pro and Saber 11) from the Colombian Institute for Evaluation of Education (ICFES) corresponding to 2014. We use a non-parametric frontier approach that combines the “order m” technique with the concept of a meta-frontier to disaggregate students’ total efficiency in generic skills in quantitative reasoning, critical reading, and written communication, into the parts attributable to the students themselves and the university. The analysis is performed by academic programme and by education sector (public vs. private). Results indicate that most of the inefficiency of students in the assessment of generic skills in higher education is attributable to the students themselves and a significant number of students could improve their performance in the assessment in each of the academic programmes if they performed as efficiently as those located on the frontier. Furthermore, the inefficiency share of students varies between academic programmes and university sectors, with students in the private sector more inefficient than those in the public sector in some and less inefficient in others. This research constitutes the first application of the technique of “order m” with the approach of the meta-frontier for the analysis of educational efficiency using data at the student and university levels.

This article investigates the efficiency of the university education using two linked databases (Saber Pro and Saber 11) from the Colombian Institute for Evaluation of Education (ICFES) corresponding to 2014. We use a non-parametric frontier approach that combines the “order m” technique with the concept of a meta-frontier to disaggregate students’ total efficiency in generic skills in quantitative reasoning, critical reading, and written communication, into the parts attributable to the students themselves and the university. The analysis is performed by academic programme and by education sector (public vs. private). Results indicate that most of the inefficiency of students in the assessment of generic skills in higher education is attributable to the students themselves and a significant number of students could improve their performance in the assessment in each of the academic programmes if they performed as efficiently as those located on the frontier. Furthermore, the inefficiency share of students varies between academic programmes and university sectors, with students in the private sector more inefficient than those in the public sector in some and less inefficient in others. This research constitutes the first application of the technique of “order m” with the approach of the meta-frontier for the analysis of educational efficiency using data at the student and university levels.