On April 14, 2024, the National Higher Education Evaluation System (Sinaes), established by Law 10.861/2004, will complete 20 years, making it the longest-lasting Higher Education evaluation policy in the history of Brazil. Despite the numerous changes the policy has undergone, we argue that after two decades of existence, Sinaes needs to be redesigned, to rescue its effectiveness as a public policy, and guarantee the coherence and consistency of its mix of instruments. This paper aims to contribute to the debate and reinforce the need to make improvements to Sinaes. We use Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework, to analyze the current technical and political context, highlighting the importance of creating a window of opportunity so that policy changes can be made in the next years. We also present an overview of the changes occurred in the Brazilian higher education system, from 2003 to 2021. Then we consolidate a diagnosis of the major existing problems in Sinaes, and we propose a research agenda, to develop evidence-based solutions for the outlined problems. Finally, we invite higher education researchers to get involved in this project, to generate the window of opportunity needed to create a more coherent and effective redesign of Sinaes.