Characterization of undergraduate nursing courses according to the National Student Performance Exam.

Objective: to characterize undergraduate nursing courses according to Enade (National Student Performance Exam) in 2010 and 2013. Method: a quantitative documental study was performed and descriptive statistics was used for data organization and analysis. Results: Enade report analysis enabled the identifi cation of a reduction in the total number of institutions providing undergraduate nursing courses that passed the evaluation process. The Southeastern, Northeastern and Southern regions of Brazil included the highest numbers of courses assessed and showed the best results in the two evaluation cycles. Additionally, the courses characterized as “without a ranking” were mainly held at private institutions. Conclusion: the results of these evaluation cycles are important to support investigative and intervention processes about and with undergraduate nursing courses.