Governance-mediated legitimacy and quality in graduate education: evidence from Brazil and China

How do different modes of governance shape legitimacy pressures and configure national quality regimes in graduate education? This article addresses this question through a systematic comparative documentary analysis of Brazil and China, the two largest graduate systems among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries. Drawing on institutional theory, legitimacy theory, and governance typologies, we develop an analytical framework applied across three documentary layers (legislative, procedural, and statistical) and five performance indicators. The analysis finds that China's hierarchical governance configures a regime in which legitimacy is anchored in state compliance, while Brazil's steering-at-a-distance coordination configures a regime in which legitimacy is anchored in peer recognition. These distinct logics are associated with differentiated systemic configurations of scale, investment, and scientific productivity. The article contributes the concept of governance-mediated legitimacy, which specifies the mode of governance as the structural variable mediating between global isomorphic pressures and nationally distinct quality regimes, resolving the paradox of structural convergence combined with systemic divergence.