Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo

The Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (Portuguese: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, PUC-SP), locally known as PUC or the Catholic University (Universidade Católica), is a private and non-profit Catholic university. It is one of the largest and most prestigious Brazilian universities. It is maintained by the Catholic Archdiocese of São Paulo.

Most of the scientific production in PUC-SP can be found in the areas of Law, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Economics, Education, Social Service and Communication, and, in these areas, it is considered one of the most important universities in Latin America, and internationally recognized by the issues and research in disorders of human communication, political economics, semiotics and psychology. In 2014, according to the Brazilian "Ranking de Universidades da Folha" (RUF), the Department of Philosophy at PUC-São Paulo is the best one in Brazil.^[3]

PUC-SP was the first university in Brazil to offer graduate programmes in the areas of Multimedia, Social Service, Psychology of Learning, Applied Linguistics and Speech-language Therapy. It also was the second university to offer a bachelor's degree in International Relations, which offers "double diplôme" for selected students that can finish their studies in Sciences Po. Since 2003, PUC-SP participates in the joint graduate program in International Relations Programa San Tiago Dantas together with UNICAMP and UNESP, one of the most important graduate programmes in the area in Brazil. Since 2010 it also offers a joint master's degree with Pantheon-Sorbonne University at "Economie de La Mondialisation" ("Mestrado Profissional em Economia da Mundialização e do Desenvolvimento").

Despite being maintained by the Catholic Archdiocese, PUC-SP is well recognized in the city of São Paulo as a liberal environment since its professors and alumni's historical political engagements during the military dictatorship, especially within its main Perdizes campus, which hosts the Social Sciences, Communications, Arts and Humanities courses.

History

Foundation

The Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo was founded in 1946, from the union of the Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de São Bento (School of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of São Bento, founded in 1908) and the Paulista School of Law. Together, four other institutions of the Church were connected.^[4]

Founded by the archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Carlos Carmelo Vasconcellos Motta as the "Catholic University of São Paulo", the university received the title of "Pontifical Catholic University" in 1947, by the Pope Pius XII.^[4]

In 1969s, PUC-SP was the first university in Brazil to have a post-graduation course.^[4]

During the Military Dictatorship

During the Military Dictatorship in Brazil, many students and professors at PUC-SP were present in manifestations against the Government, and the archbishop at that time, Paulo Evaristo Arns, admitted teachers from the public universities who were dismissed by the militaries. Some of the persons who started working at PUC are Florestan Fernandes, Octavio Ianni, Bento Prado Jr., José Arthur Gianotti.^[4]

In 1977, PUC hosted the 29th meeting of the Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (SBPC, Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science), which had been forbidden by the government in public universities. In September, some students celebrated the third National Meeting of the Students, also forbidden by the dictatorship. As a response, troops of the Military Police broke into the campus and arrested some students, professors and other workers.^[4]

In the early 1980s, PUC-SP was the first Brazilian university to elect the rector and other administrative functions by direct vote from the students and teachers.^[4] In 1984, two fires (one in September, the other in December, the latter believe to be criminal)^[4] damaged the theater of the university.

Financial crisis

In the early 2000s, two new campuses, one in Santana and one in Barueri, were created.

In 2001, the university had a deficit of 4 million reais, and that deficit increased in the following years, forcing PUC-SP to make a loan with banks, which generated a debt of 82 million reais by the end of 2005.^[5] and the results could be observed for most of the year 2006. Some courses were closed for the low demand^[6] and the several professors were fired^[7] (although some of them had accepted to have their salaries decreased to avoid being dismissed),^[8] generating protests from professors and students.^[9] By the end of 2006, the university had its first non-deficitary months.^[10]

In 2012, for the first time since the students, professors and staff have been given the right to directly elect the university's rector, the most voted candidate (Dirceu de Mello, which had already been elected for the 2008-2012 mandate and was on campaign for reelection) was not appointed for the position by Odilo Scherer, bishop-cardinal and responsible for appointing the rector. Instead, he opted for Anna Cintra, the least voted of all three candidates.^[11] She accepted the position, even though she signed a document (a gesture imitated by the other two candidates) promising not to take over unless she was the most voted candidate.^[12] The cardinal's decision was received with dissatisfaction by students and professors, who started a strike for indefinite time and did other demonstrations as an answer to Anna Cintra's indication.^[13][14][15] On November 30, she tried to gain access to the rector's room, but was barred by the students, who surrounded her and her bodyguards and caused her to flee by taxi.^[16]

Campuses

The main campus of PUC-SP and its administrative headquarters are located in Perdizes, a middle-class neighbourhood in the subprefecture of Lapa, in the west side of São Paulo City. It mostly consists of academic buildings, the University Theater (TUCA) and the University Church. Most of these buildings, built between 1920 and 1940, are part of the historical patrimonium of the city. The School of Exact Sciences and Technology is located near the city centre (Consolação Campus) while Business and Economy courses are also offered in the north side of São Paulo City (Santana Campus). The School of Medical Sciences and Health is located in the city of Sorocaba (90 km from São Paulo) and a campus in the city of Barueri offers courses of Business, Economics, Physical Therapy and Psychology.

Unities and courses

Cross Patio inside PUC-SP in campus Perdizes.

School of Exact Sciences and Technology, in 'Consolação' campus

School of Philosophy, Communication, Letters and Arts of PUC-SP, located near the main campus.

Admission

Like other Brazilian universities, students are admitted by an entrance exam called vestibular which consists of two tests containing questions on languages, science, math and history. The vestibular of PUC-SP also selects students for other colleges and universities in the state of São Paulo (Examples: Faculty of Medicine of Marília (public institution), Faculty of Medicine of ABC and the Faculty of Law of São Bernardo do Campo).

Notable professors and alumni

Professors

Economy school

• Plínio de Arruda Sampaio (1930–2014), Federal Deputy for São Paulo
• Celso Daniel (1951–2002), Mayor of Santo André
• Celso Furtado (1920–2004), Minister of Development and Minister of Culture
• Guido Mantega (1949–), Finance Minister
• Aloísio Mercadante (1954–), Senator for São Paulo

Education school

• Paulo Freire (1921–1997), critical pedagogy theorist

Law school

• Osvaldo Aranha Bandeira de Melo (1908–1980), Director of São Paulo city legal department, first lay rector of PUC-SP between 1963 and 1972, desembargador of the Court of São Paulo
• Tércio Sampaio Ferraz Júnior (1941-), philosopher of law and jurist.

Philosophy school

• Zeljko Loparić (1939–), History of Philosophy scholar
• Bento Prado Júnior (1937–2007), literary critic, writer, poet and translator
• Jeanne Marie Gagnebin (1952 - ), philosopher, History of Philosophy scholar and writer

Sociology school

• Octavio Ianni (1926–2004), populism and imperialism scholar
• Florestan Fernandes (1920–1995), Federal Deputy for São Paulo
• Maurício Tragtenberg (1929–1998), Libertarian Education exponent

Arts and Letters school

• Haroldo de Campos (1929–2003), literary critic, writer, translator and one of the most important poet of twentieth-century Brazilian poetry.

Alumni

• Nicandro Durante, Chief Executive of British American Tobacco
• Maria Rita Kehl, psychoanalyst and writer
• Gabriel Chalita, Secretary of education of the State of São Paulo
• Antonio Claudio Mariz de Oliveira, criminalist lawyer
• José Dirceu, Chief of Staff
• Luiz Fernando Furlan, Finance Minister and entrepreneur
• Reynaldo Gianecchini, actor
• Amir Slama, stylist and entrepreneur
• Marta Suplicy, psychologist, and mayor of São Paulo city
• Monalisa Perrone, journalist of TV Globo
• Shigeaki Ueki, President of Petrobrás
• Rui Ricardo Dias, actor
• Rafael Cortez, journalist, actor and comedian

See also

• Brazil University Rankings
• Universities and Higher Education in Brazil

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo.

• (Portuguese) Official site

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