| Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul | |
|---|---|
| Established | First school 1895, creation 1934, federalization 1950 |
| Type | Public |
| Rector | Carlos Alexandre Netto |
| Admin. staff | 4,494 (2008)[1] |
| Undergraduates | 24,567 (2008)[1] |
| Postgraduates | 8,415 (2008) [1] |
| Location | Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil |
| Campus | Urban and suburban, 371,742 m² of constructed area (2008) and 2,185 ha of total area (2008)[1] |
| Website | www.ufrgs.br |
The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul[2] (Portuguese: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS) is one of the largest federal universities in Brazil. It is almost completely located in Porto Alegre, with four campi (Campus do Centro, Campus Saúde, Campus Olímpico and Campus do Vale), some isolated buildings (e.g. the Business School and the Institute of Arts) and some isolated units in other cities. UFRGS is among the best Brazilian universities,[3][4][5] and has one of the greatest numbers of scientific publications. UFRGS has over 24,000 undergraduate students and around 8,000 graduate students. The University has around 2,100 teachers, over half of them PhDs. As a public institution, the course is absolutely free of cost to the students, who are selected through an annual competitive exam. The institute also has a profound political history. Between 1964 and 1969, during the worst years of the military dictatorship, 33 professors were eliminated, as well as a good number of students. The experience echoes a tradition of social commitment and combativeness. The institute has since been active not only in forming new generations of students, but also in the production of knowledge through high-quality research and consultancies. Today, many of the high-ranking officials in government as well as the majority of the history, philosophy and social sciences teachers in smaller universities throughout the state were educated in the institution. The climate of intellectual debate and analysis of public issues has also been important in training students (often with scholarships and/or student apprenticeships) to work for non-governmental and governmental organisations which contribute to the critical reflection and planning of development programs. Among the graduates of UFRGS, there are three Brazilian presidents: Getúlio Vargas, João Goulart and Dilma Rousseff.
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The university originated from Escola de Farmácia e Química (School of Pharmacy and Chemistry) in 1895, It was expanded in 1896, when it was created the Engineering College. This was the beginning of higher education in Rio Grande do Sul. In the end of the 19th century, the Medicine and Law schools were founded, the latter being the first school of humanities tertiary education in the state.
In November, 1934, it was founded the Universidade de Porto Alegre (University of Porto Alegre), initially composed by the following units:
The third transformation took place in 1947, when it became Universidade do Rio Grande do Sul (University of Rio Grande do Sul) - URGS -, incorporating the Law and Dentistry Colleges from Pelotas and with the Pharmacy College from Santa Maria. These units, however, separated from URGS when the Federal Universities of Pelotas and Santa Maria were founded.
In December 1950, control of the university passed to the Federal Government. After that, the name of the institution became Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul).
Offering graduate and undergraduate courses, UFRGS is the largest university of Rio Grande do Sul. Its more than 300 buildings accommodate 29 colleges, which are divided in 94 departments.
The university spreads through 2,185 ha, and it has 10,607 m² of constructed area. It is divided into four campi and minor units: Centro (Downtown), Saúde (Health Sciences), Vale and Olímpico.
The undergraduate program’s students make up for a population of 26 thousand, while the graduate program has 12 thousand students. The elementary, high-school and technical school sum up to 1,300 students.
The university’s infrastructure comprises more than 500 laboratories, 33 libraries, 37 lecture halls, the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, UFRGS Press, UFRGS Museum, Botanical Garden, Broadcasting Center, Observatory, 3 buildings for Campus Accommodation, 5 refectories, 2 summer camps and several other centers and facilities.
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Undergraduate Research Grant Program
The objective of the Undergraduate Research Internship Program is to integrated students from undergraduate courses into research activities, technological development and, innovation. Besides contributing for students’ academic and professional growth, the program also offers the opportunity to take part in the community of the university researchers fostering dialogue between undergraduate and graduate programs.
Research Promotion Program
The research promotion program has as goal to support the continuity of research projects, the organization of events and the qualification of technical and administrative personnel, besides stimulating the national and international exposure of works made in research by professors, technical and administrative personnel, and students.
Science in Society and Science in School Program
This program has the compromise of stimulating university developed projects which are turned to popularization and spreading of science and technology in a variety of social groups and in school environment, through participation of UFRGS undergraduate students, in activities which enable the permanent development of human capital in these areas.
Journal Editing Supporting Program
The Journal Editing Supporting Program implements ways of support and stimulus for journal edition at UFRGS. Its objective is to grant visibility to scientific magazines of the institution.
It is important to say that UFRGS researchers have contributed to the preservation of paleontologic sites of paleoroute geopark. They public many studies, not only in Brazilian periodics but also in foreign ones. UFRGS has a museum of Paleontology, which is located in the Institute of Geosciences.
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(Source:[6])
Agronomy
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Applied Social Sciences
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Architecture
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Engineering
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Exact Sciences
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Health Sciences
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Music
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Social Sciences
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Visual Sciences
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UFRGS also offers two distance learning courses and one with UERGS.
Students are accepted through the Vestibular, which is an open examination where the top-placed candidates are offered a placement at the university. Since UFRGS is free of charge, the Vestibular is usually a very hard examination since there are many candidates for few open placements.[8] Examinations take place in January and classes begin in March.
The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as the other Brazilian federal universities, adopted the National High School Examination in 2010 as a standard of admission. The applicants’ participation in ENEM is optative. Hence, their performances in the examination are analyzed together with their performances in the university entrance exam, comprehending 10% of the final grade.
SECOM is an executive office of UFRGS directly connected to the Central Administration’s cabinet – as well as to other sectors and the Provosts’ Offices. SECOM defines the communication policies and strategies employed by UFRGS, facilitating services inside the university through the creation of informative and institutional materials. Its goal is to promote new activities and establish initiatives which recognize and publicize the institution’s potential. Some of its sections are the university newspaper, TV channel and radio station.
UFRGS' Clinicas Hospital is a nationwide reference. The university hospital is located in the centre of Porto Alegre.
| 2009 | 2010 | |
|---|---|---|
| Consultations | 562,507 | 577,504 |
| Exams | 2,811,277 | 2,767,804 |
| Operations | 41,281 | 42,121 |
| Transplants | 411 | 412 |
| 2009 | 2010 | |
|---|---|---|
| Staff | 4,499 | 4,578 |
| Professors | 290 | 283 |
| Residents | 344 | 414 |
| Undergraduate students | 2,100 | 1,966 |
| Graduate students | 559 | 590 |
| PhD students | 300 | 395 |
| Training hours | 200.162 | 214.576 |
According to the ranking sponsored by the Ministry of Education (MEC, Ministério da Educação), UFRGS lists among the top 10 universities in Brazil; in January 2011 it was awarded second place. According to the "Web of World Universities 2009", UFRGS was placed 152nd worldwide.[10]
This is an incomplete list of famous UFRGS alumni, sorted by Faculty.
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