| Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Incipit Vita Nova (Latin) |
| Motto in English | A new life begins |
| Established | 1927 |
| Type | Public University |
| Endowment | R$ 1.078.315.210,14 (2008)[1] |
| Rector | Clélio Campolina Diniz |
| Admin. staff | 4,445 |
| Undergraduates | 24,552 (in 2009) |
| Postgraduates | 12,927 (in 2009) |
| Location | Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil |
| Campus | Urban, 8,794,767 square meters (2,173 acres) |
| Website | www.ufmg.br |
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Federal University of Minas Gerais, abbreviated as UFMG) is a federal university located in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The students are admitted through yearly exams called vestibular.
UFMG is one of Brazil's five largest universities, being the largest federal university. It offers 75 different undergraduate degrees, including an extremely sought-after Medicine degree, more traditional options such as Law and Economics, plus a handful of Engineering and a wide array of Science and Art degrees. It also offers 57 PhD programs, 66 MSc programs, 79 Post-Baccalaureate programs and 38 medical internship programs. In total, UFMG has a population of 37,479 students.
Its undergraduate courses were ranked in 1st place[2] in the 2007 results for the National Student's Performance Exam (ENADE)[3] and 4th place[4] in the 2008 results. In particular, courses in the exact sciences area are of very high quality and its Computer Science course was considered the best in the country, as well the Social Sciences course, from FAFICH. [5] by the latest edition of ENADE.
The current rector of UFMG is Prof. Clélio Campolina Diniz. Famous past students include former Brazilian presidents Juscelino Kubitschek and Tancredo Neves; writer, medical doctor and diplomat João Guimarães Rosa, writers Fernando Sabino, Pedro Nava and Cyro dos Anjos; plastic surgeon Ivo Pitanguy, poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade and pop singers Samuel Rosa and Fernanda Takai.
UFMG is the tenth in the rankings of best universities in Latin America, according QS World University Rankings (2011/12)[6].
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UFMG campus is located in the northern part of Belo Horizonte, in the neighborhood of Pampulha. The campus area totals 8,775,579 square meters, while built area reaches 620,735 square meters. This is divided in three main campi (Pampulha Campus, Health Sciences Campus in Central Belo Horizonte and Rural Sciences Institute in Montes Claros together with a few buildings spread in other parts of Belo Horizonte, such as the School of Architecture. Inside the Pampulha Campus there is the CDTN, a Federal Institute for Nuclear Sciences Research; it includes 38 buildings, dozens of scientific research laboratories and also a 250 kW TRIGA nuclear reactor from General Atomics. There is also an extensive area of secondary forest known as the Estação Ecológica ("Ecological Station"), where some university scientists - mainly ecologists and zoologists - carry out research; this is the largest "green" area within the city boundaries, and is home to several endemic insect species. In the academic years of 2007 and 2009, the Ministry of Education has ranked the UFMG as the best University in Brazil, after a detailed examination over all institutions of higher education.
The origins in Brazil of the university go back as far as the 19th century, when it first appeared in the Republic as a continuation of a process that began during the Empire, with the opening of the first institutions of higher education.
In 1898, the Ouro Preto Faculty of Law was transferred to Belo Horizonte, which at the time was set to be the new state capital.
A few new unconnected faculties would be founded later: in 1907, the Free School of Dentistry; in 1911, the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and a course in pharmacy attached to the Free School of Dentistry.
A group of patriots, the "Inconfidentes," who rebelled against Portuguese domination, conceived of the idea of a university in the state of Minas Gerais, which was founded as the Universidade de Minas Gerais (UMG) in 1927. The state-subsidized private institution brought together the four institutions of higher learning that existed in Belo Horizonte. UMG remained within the state system until 1949, when it was federalized.
In 1927, these four schools merged to found UMG, University of Minas Gerais, a private institution subsidized by the state government.
The UMG remained funded by Minas Gerais government until 1949, when funding had been delegated to Brazilian Government. Even though, the name UFMG was not adopted until 1965.
In the 1940s, a large area in the Pampulha region became the site for the construction of University City. The first structures erected were the Institute of Mechanics (now the Vocational School) and the Main Building. The effective occupation of the campus by the university community started only in the 1960s, when the construction of the buildings that today house most of the academic units was started.
At the time of federalization, the schools of architecture, philosophy and economics were already integrated in the university. As its expansion carried on, the School of Nursing (1950), Veterinary Science (1961), Information Science (1962), Music (1962) and Physical Education (1969) were founded.
In 1968, a university reform altered profoundly the structure of UFMG. The College of Philosophy spawned multiple institutions: the College of Philosophy and Human Sciences, the Institute of Biological Sciences, the Institute of Exact Sciences, the Institute of Geosciences and the Colleges of Literature and Education.
Additional courses have been established recently. Among them: agronomy, archival science, theater, museology, control and automation engineering, computational mathematics, and speech therapy/audiology.
The Office of the Dean of Research is responsible for advising the University administration on topics related to scientific and technological research, as well as to encourage research, and the Center for Technology Innovation and Transfer is responsible for encouraging and promoting interaction among activities that generate, diffuse, and apply knowledge between UFMG and the community, via the creation of partnerships between researchers and the entrepreneurial sector, as regards technology development and transfer.
The School of Information Science (former School of Librarian Science) has a full-time academic staff that explores four basic research topics in the areas of Scientific and Technological, Managerial, and Social and Historical Information. In addition, using the Lab of Information Treatment, the unit works on all topics related to information storage and diffusion.
The four departments at the School of Law investigate Philosophy of Law, Society by Quotas, Penal Process, Penal Law, Brazilian International Acts, Constitutional Law, and Social Function of Property.
One of the research centers at the School of Architecture, which is divided into four departments, is the Graphic Laboratory for the Teaching of Architecture (Lagear), equipped with a modern system of computer-assisted design. Among the main research topics are Computer-Assisted Photogrametry, Computer-Assisted Photo-Documentation, Photorealistic Representations, as well as studies on accessibility (Architecture without barriers for disabled people).
Most research topics explored at the School of Economics (Face) are related to work done at the Center for Regional Development and Planning (Cedeplar), at the Center for Research and Graduate Studies in Business Administration (Cepead), and at the Research Institute in Economics, Business Administration, and Accounting (Ipead). At Cedeplar, where 25 teachers have a doctoral degree and 10 have a master’s degree, there is research on Demographics and on Economics, with projects on Fecundity, Historical Demographics and Labor, Agricultural and Industrial Economics, Economic History, Economics and Environment, and Privatizations. At Cepead, 11 teachers have a doctoral degree and eight have a master’s. They study Sectors of Support for Decision Making, Human Behavior in Organizations, Performance and Financial Strategy in Organizations. With four teachers holding a doctoral degree and two holding a master’s, the Ipead provides consultancy and calculates monthly rates of indices, such as price and rent variation.
At present, 6 graduate programs and around 300 topics of research occupy 290 teachers at the Institute of Biological Sciences (ICB), 90% of whom holding doctoral, master’s or post-baccalaureate degrees. The laboratories of the Institute’s 10 departments have been responsible for internationally acclaimed research in Biology, some of them being considered national standards, such as the Center of Electronic Microscopy. It is worth pointing out the recent development, at ICB, of a new simple non-radioactive methodology for the study of DNA impressions and the American visceral leishmaniasis vaccine. Among the ICB topics of research responsible for the largest number of publications are those related to the development of new vaccines and medications – Biochemistry, Immunology, and Microbiology – to Genetics and to Ecology. The Unit also makes important contributions to Botany, Zoology, Morphology, and Parasitology.
To assist researchers and teachers, ICB has four laboratory animal facilities with hundreds of guinea pigs kept in accordance to international principles of animal experimentation. UFMG’s laboratory animal facility is considered one of the best equipped in the country.
At present, more than 70% of the 280 teachers at the School of Engineering work along 60 topics of research. In 1993, approximately 80 teachers held doctoral degrees, 110 held Master’s degrees, and 50 were enrolled in doctoral programs. The school’s 13 departments have modern laboratories.
Most research work done in Engineering is related to technological development, with immediate application in various industries, funded by national and international agencies. By means of agreements and service contracts signed through the Christiano Otonni Foundation, the school makes contact with companies from the public and private sectors. In Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, the Environmental Monitoring and Water Treatment Project, developed nine years ago and by means of an agreement signed with the German agency TGZ deserves to be highlighted.
Three topics of research are pursued in Electric Engineering, monitored by the department’s Research Center: High Tension, which includes studies about protection against atmospheric discharges, Power Electronics, and Control of Industrial Processes. At the Department of Civil Engineering, the main researches are carried out at the Laboratory of Structural Analysis, where structures submitted to very high pressure are evaluated. Among the areas in Mechanical Engineering, special attention is due Aeronautics, which was started in 1990. Work is being done also on Energy Alternatives, mainly on Photovoltaic Energy (the transformation of sun light into energy) and Solar Collectors. The projects are supported by the Minas Gerais Energy Company (Cemig) and Eletrobrás.
At the Department of Chemical Engineering, stands out research on Liquid/Liquid Separation and on Heat Sensitive Substances. At the Department of Mining Engineering, two of the most important research topics are Mineral Treatment and Prospecting. The School of Engineering’s largest department is Metallurgic Engineering, which has an X-Ray Lab and an Electronic Microscopy Lab, among others. The most characteristic current research involves Extractive Metallurgy, Physical Metallurgy, which deals with material molding, and “Trefilação”.
Still at the School of Engineering, there is the Center for Electronic Computation, linked to the Scientific Computation Lab.
Six academic units are involved with research in the area of Human Sciences and Applied Social Sciences. At the School of Philosophy and Human Science (Fafich), 90% of its near 220 teachers from the six departments have master’s or doctoral degrees and are doing research. At the Department of Sociology, researches focus mainly on Urban and Industrial Sociology and Sociology of Culture. At the Department of History, the characteristic topics are Oral, Political, and Economic History. The Department of Political Sciences works mostly with Public and Administrative Policies, Brazilian and International Politics, and Political Theory. At the Department of Philosophy, most works focus on the relationship between Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, Marxism, Social and Political Philosophy, Esthetics, Art Philosophy, and Logic. Also connected to Fafich, the Esthetics Laboratory does research and documentation work on Esthetics and Art and Civilization History.
The School of Education (FAE) has three departments, which carry out interdisciplinary activities with other University sectors. The Center for Literacy, Reading, and Writing (Ceale), which develops many projects on child and adult literacy, has been the major source of publication at FAE. The Center for Mathematics and Science Teaching in Minas Gerais (Cecimig) studies the learning processes in the area and offers permanent courses for primary and secondary teachers.
The UFMG School of Medicine’s ten departments research more than 100 topics, using the infrastructure of the Hospital das Clínicas and its 14 labs. Around 60% of the unit’s more than 470 teachers hold a master’s or a doctoral degree, and most of them take part in scientific production.
A large part of the research stems from the 12 Medicine graduate programs offered by UFMG. Among the most developed topics are Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Hematology and Oncology, Gastroenterology and Digestive Tract Surgery, Ophthalmology, and Endocrinology.
There also many publications on Pathology, Surgery, Ambulatory Surgery, Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Spider and Snake Poisons, Transplants, Toxicology, Tropical Medicine, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, AIDS, Fetal Medicine, Oncology, Gynecology and Obstetrics, and Preventive and Social Medicine.
More than half the 82 teachers of the School of Nursing, most of whom have master’s and doctoral degrees, are involved in projects that are largely interdisciplinary.
Distributed among the unit’s three departments, they work at the university hospitals and in the public health system. Some of their research topics are Education and the Nursing Curriculum, Transmitted Diseases, Work Force, Workers’ Health Quality, and Rites of Death in Senior Citizens’ Memories.
A large part of the School of Dentistry’s 100 teachers, one-fifth of whom hold a master’s or doctoral degree, does research. The strongest groups work with Bio-Safety in Dental Practice, Dental Trauma, Social Representation of Health and Mouth Disease, Orthodontics for Deciduous and Permanent Teeth, Surgery, Peridental Disease and Cyst, and Prevention and Epidemiology of Cavities and other Diseases.
The School of Pharmacy, which also has four departments, does mostly experimental research. Of the unit’s more than 70 teachers, about 35% hold a doctoral degree and approximately the same percentage have a master’s degree. The most important topics of research are related to the development of new substances and medicines at the school’s laboratories, mainly the Labs of Medicines and of Pharmacognosis and Plant Chemistry. The Department of Food also develops state-of-the-art research on Biotechnology (quality control and food science and technology). The Department of Clinical Analyses has important works on Parasitology and Applied Toxicology, as well as on Clinical Bio-Chemistry.
The School of Physical Education investigates about 20 research topics. At the two departments linked to the Physical Education program, nearly half the 35 teachers does research, most of which is done in the Labs of Exercise Physiology and of Sport Psychology. Special attention is given to studies of the behavior of the human organism, athlete conditioning, prevention of temperature accidents during exercises, effects of caffeine on the body, and neuroendocrinologic response to exercise. In the Department of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, the main projects are related to Neuropediatrics and to Physiotherapy in Geriatrics. The department’s researchers work at the Hospital das Clínicas and at the Lab of Therapeutic Gymnastics, which belongs to the school.
Undergraduate Entrance Examination (2010)
Teaching Programs
University population
Research
Degree held by Professors
International Affairs
Territory
Publications (yearly)
UFMG's annual budget
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