In order to improve its next evaluation cycle, Capes (National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education) sought suggestions from the academic community on various occasions. During the 2004 evaluation, members of evaluation commissions were consulted using an instrument composed of 15 items. Graduate program coordinators in private institutions were also consulted. The responses illicited from these queries reveal that there is general agreement with respect to the issues presented and that there are few significant differences between the two selected groups or between the different fields of knowledge. The level of disagreement is greatest when the inclusion of aspects that have not been traditionally a part of the evaluation of graduate programs is proposed. The reasoning, reservations and suggestions that accompanied the responses to the 15 items are also presented in this paper.