A gest o da pós-gradua o no Brasil através de seus planos nacionais: os desafios dos gestores de cursos

The article aims to analyze the management of post-graduate courses in the period from 1975 to 2010, through the first five national post-graduate plans, highlighting the challenges of courses managers in that context. The methodology used was the literature and documental research with a historical and qualitative approach. Through the analysis of national post-graduate plans and the political and economic context in which they operated and through the analysis of official documents as well as authors that study the post-graduate policies, different demands throughout the period were observed such as: the regulation and standardization of the post-graduate activities (I PNPG), the improvement the courses quality (II PNPG), development of university research (III PNPG), decentralization of management and adaptation to the new assessment model courses (IV PNPG ) and system diversification by proposing new models (V PNPG). In conclusion, although these claims have turned program management into an increasingly complex activity, policies and proposals of PNPGs contributed to the development of Brazilian post-graduate courses and also to the recognition of its excellence, both nationally and internationally.