The present text reports an experience in which the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) was utilized to identify and formulate proposals with the participation of professors and students of a graduate program in the fi eld of Administration that, at the time, was in the process of seeking offi cial recognition by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, an entity linked to Brazil’s federal Ministry of Education. The SSM aims to identify and structure problem situations with defi nitional diffi culties in a manner that relates the real world with systemic thinking. The experience resulted in a spreadsheet of academic accompaniment. In this context, the SSM proved to be an interactive learning process, characterized by constant debates and the political participation of all of the individuals involved. The process generated proposals of action designed to solve the problems related to acquiring the recognition of the graduate program. As such, it served as a useful instrument for discussions pertaining to the roles of the program, its internal segments and the aspects that should be changed. In addition, the methodology helped the participating students to assume co-responsibility for the evaluation process and to be politically involved with its results.