The Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology (IF) were recently created in Brazil with the purpose of supplying the demand for qualified technical manpower, which has increased in the country. They aggregate quality to the curriculum, integrating technical and basic knowledge and aiming at preparing students for life and qualify them for citizenship. Such institutions demonstrate a concern with sustainability issues in their documents. Some studies have pointed out the importance of the inclusion of discussions on education for sustainability in educational institutions and also in management courses. Thus, the present study aims at identifying how the issues related to this topic are being addressed in Brazilian Federal Institutes, especially at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS). In order to accomplish this, an exploratory survey was conducted, outlined by a descriptive scope, to verify how the sustainability issue has been addressed in the IFRS technological courses in Business and Management axis, according to the National Catalogue of Technological Higher Education Courses and to the Ministry of Education's National Catalogue of Technical Courses. It was observed that, despite IFRS shows a concern with the sustainability issues in their documents, there is not an institutional policy that integrates the actions related to sustainability in the institution at a whole, whereas the inclusion of the theme in the courses occurs in different ways, by the initiative of some teachers. However, some projects that aim at inserting sustainability in Business and Management courses can be verified already, such as the projects being developed at Campus Canoas e Osório - which are also presented in this study. It is important to emphasize that the projects are under implementation, which still does not allow an evaluation regarding their results. Nevertheless, these could provide the basis for actions in an institutional level and a pattern for other levels and educational institutions.
Sustainability; Education; Management; Interdisciplinarity; Federal Institutes
