Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Photo by Henrique Almeida/AGECOM/UFSC

UFSC is the best university in the state of Santa Catarina and the fourth best federal university in Brazil, according to data from the Ministry of Education (MEC) released on 28 March. The data is based on four Higher Education Quality Indicators that are part of the cycle of results produced from the National Student Performance Exam (Enade). The partial results of the last evaluation cycle (2021) were released in September, when UFSC stood out for having about 80% of its undergraduate programs assessed with top grades.

Now, MEC has released the Program Preliminary Concept (CPC) and the General Index of the Institution’s Assessed Programs (IGC). The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) stood out in both and is the only institution in Santa Catarina to have achieved the maximum grade (5). Moreover, among the top ranked institutions, it is the institution that had the highest number of programs with CPC in the triennium, a total of 70.

For the Prorector for Undergraduate Studies and Basic Education at UFSC, Dilceane Carraro, the good results achieved in the evaluation reflect the serious and dedicated work of the university community, “especially of the faculty and staff who worked to ensure the quality of the undergraduate programs assessed”.

The IGC is calculated from the average of the CPC, taking into account the last Enade cycle; the average of the grades assigned to graduate programs by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) in the last evaluation; and the distribution of students among the different levels of higher education (undergraduate and graduate degrees).

In 2021, UFSC obtained a continuous IGC of 4.14 and raised this number to 4.197. This has placed the university in the select group of 46 institutions that have secured the highest score. Among all the public institutions – including institutes, colleges and state universities, UFSC has also stood out with the fourth best performance.

According to MEC, of the total number of institutions participating in this edition, 87% are private and 13% public. The majority (71.4%) are colleges, followed by university centers (16.5%), universities (10.1%) and the federal institutes and technological education centers (2%).

UFSC programs are rated higher than the national average

The IGC places UFSC as the best university in Santa Catarina, the only one to get the maximum grade (5) in the evaluation. Compared to other universities in Brazil, the programs assessed in the last cycle also stand out, with performance above the national average. Still based on the IGC, UFSC is the second best evaluated university in the south of the country.

The federal educational institutions achieved a better performance: 72 institutions were placed in band 4, out of the total 111 assessed (64.9%). Alongside UFSC, 14 other federal public universities achieved grade 5.

One of the characteristics of this ranking is that it assessed at least 17 undergraduate teaching degree programs. “From the calculation of the indicators, it is possible to measure the performance of recently graduated students and, consequently, assess the quality of the teacher training process,” says the MEC website. “The undergraduate teaching programs are going through substantive challenges related to the national guidelines and standards and persist in training professionals with quality and ethical commitment. This result makes us proud and motivates us to continue defending public education and quality teaching,” adds the Prorector.

Translated by SINTER/UFSC

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The Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) published, last month, the 2021 Brazilian Cooperation for International Development (COBRADI) preliminary report, which included the participation of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). Invited to speak in the launch event, UFSC was recognized as one of the federal public institutions with the best international cooperation practices, standing out in the fields of internationalization and educational and scientific cooperation.

“The COBRADI research has been carried out by Ipea since 2010 and, in this edition, it has included the participation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the collection of data on South-South cooperation. We decided to participate in the research due to the importance of knowing and disseminating the University’s contribution to international cooperation for development. In addition, the data obtained may support our institutional internationalization policy”, says the Director of International Relations at UFSC, Fernanda Leal.

Since its implementation, COBRADI has helped the Federal Government in the planning of its external actions, and, from 2022, the survey has become the official source of information on Brazil’s contributions to the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in other countries. The results are also regularly shared with the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), so that the Brazilian external expenditures on SDGs can be integrated with those of other countries, as well as with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to help measure and quantify South-South Cooperation.

Ms. Leal observes that there are several methodological challenges involved in carrying out this research, mainly related to the fragmentation of internationalization data at the University. “However, through the collaboration of SINTER [Office of International Relations] with the International Relations program and the support from various University units, such as PROPESQ [Prorectorate for Research and Innovation], PROEX [Prorectorate for Outreach and Extension], the Internationalization Coordination Office at PROPG [Prorectorate for Graduate Studies] and the Personnel Training Coordination Office at PRODEGESP [Prorectorate for Personnel Management and Development], we have been able to advance and design a methodology that may even guide other HEIs that decide to participate in the next editions of the research.”

Professor Iara Leite, from the International Relations program, has been coordinating the data collection methodology and involving her students in the analyses. “The participation of students is essential to promote the curricularization of outreach at our university, including by carrying out classroom activities, and it would be interesting to take this model to other International Relations programs at universities that want to collect their data.”

“With the emergence of new evaluation indicators of graduate programs in Brazil, which begin to assess social impacts, we considered it important to involve the Graduate Program in International Relations too. This is happening through the outstanding participation of the master’s student Tayane Tjader Martins in the team, who is not only transforming data into information, but also developing a thesis on the subject”, adds Professor Leite.

For the Secretary for International Relations at UFSC, Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho, the University’s participation in the 2021 COBRADI research is the result of the good practices carried out by various university units, as well as of the efforts made by SINTER’s staff to provide information to Ipea. “UFSC was one of the three federal higher education institutions (FHEIs) to be invited to speak in the event, represented by our administrative coordinator, Rafaela Céspedes. The evaluation of the institutions’ work fundamentally depends on the quality and quantity of the data made available. By innovating in the design of a methodology for collecting data from different sources, UFSC contributes to a better evaluation of the work carried out at the FHEIs”, he stresses.

“Precisely from 2022, the results of the COBRADI survey will guide the Brazilian Government in planning its external actions, being a reference for the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in other countries. The reliability of the data is of paramount importance for this purpose. An interesting data from the 2021 COBRADI report is the cost per full-time equivalent student at the FHEIs, which was R$ 21,936.29/year in 2021. Considering the quality of the education and the student assistance provided (university restaurant, scholarships, housing), it is an extremely low cost, which demonstrates the high efficiency of Brazilian public higher education”, adds the Secretary.

COBRADI 2021

The 2021 COBRADI preliminary report consists of four chapters. The first presents an overview of the new research methodology and discusses the themes that represent methodological challenges for this year and the years to come. Essentially aimed at public policy makers and decision makers inside and outside the Brazilian Government, the second chapter is unprecedented compared to the previous editions of the report. It brings the main research data at an intermediate level of disaggregation, allowing a quick reading and understanding of the trends in Brazilian international cooperation in 2021.

The third chapter is aimed at the executors of cooperation actions and provides a maximum level of detail of the data collected, describing the Brazilian institutions, the cooperation initiatives and the types of cooperation. Finally, the fourth chapter is intended for all those interested in the topic of internationalization of Brazilian HEIs, particularly in the areas of mobility and international research networks.

More information about COBRADI and the preliminary report, which will be complemented with new data from UFSC until the end of January, are available on the Ipea website. SINTER also promoted a webinar on the University’s participation in the research, available here (in Portuguese).

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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The Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) has released the final results of the Quadrennial Evaluation (2017-2020) of 4,512 graduate programs in Brazil, whose preliminary results were released in September. The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) has improved in performance: according to the official result, the university now has 27 programs graded 6 or 7 (maximum grade is 7), representing 40% of its programs and a growth of 35% in relation to the last evaluation.

The Graduate Programs in Electrical Engineering, Food Engineering, Knowledge Engineering and Management, Philosophy and Physical Education achieved grade 7, joining the Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Materials Science and Engineering  programs, which already had this grade. The Graduate Programs in Biochemistry, Civil Engineering, Collective Health, Design, Neurosciences, Production Engineering, and Social Anthropology also achieved excellence. They obtained grade 6, joining the Graduate Programs in Aquaculture, Automation and Systems Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Food Science, Law, Linguistics, Mechanical Engineering, Nursing, Pharmacology, Plant Genetic Resources, Science and Technology Education, and Translation Studies, which obtained this grade in 2017.

Of the 67 academic programs evaluated at UFSC, 42 maintained the grades obtained in the last evaluation, 22 obtained higher grades compared to 2017 and 3 were assessed for the first time. It is worth mentioning that no academic programs at UFSC had a grade drop or were disqualified by CAPES in the current evaluation. The University has other 22 programs graded 5 and 11 programs graded 4. Only seven programs were graded 3, and three programs (Geology, Nanoscience, Processes and Advanced Materials, and Textile Engineering) were evaluated for the first time, as they were created in the past few years.

The Capes Quadrennial Evaluation takes into account quantitative and qualitative aspects of Graduate Programs in terms of faculty, student education, scientific production, and infrastructure, assigning grades from 1 to 7, where 3 is the minimum grade for a program to operate. Grades 6 and 7 place Programs at the level of academic excellence.

The Prorector for Graduate Studies at UFSC, Professor Werner Kraus Junior, highlighted the growth in the number of programs graded 6 and 7, taking into account that 12 programs have obtained higher grades than in the last evaluation. According to him, the results confirm UFSC’s academic excellence, which is already demonstrated by other indicators, placing UFSC in the sixth position among Brazilian universities in terms of number of excellence graduate programs. “Although Capes evaluates graduate programs only, the close relationship of this evaluation with the quality of undergraduate studies, research, outreach and management at the University is undeniable. The growth of graduate studies at UFSC in a period when major challenges were faced, such as the pandemic and the budget cuts for science and education, reflects the dedication and talent of the people who work and study here. It is, therefore, an achievement of the entire University Community”.

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) is the fifth most sustainable university in Brazil and second among the federal universities, according to a survey published by the 2023 QS World University Rankings last Wednesday, 26 October. In the top positions are, respectively, the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), the Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

The QS rankings analyzed the performance of 700 universities around the world. It was the first time they carried out an assessment with a specific focus on Sustainability. The methodology comprised indicators designed to measure an institution’s ability to tackle the world’s environmental, social, and governance challenges.

The aim is to assess the institutional impact in order “to effectively capture university performance when it comes to making positive change for people and planet”. Indicators are split into two major groups: social impact and environmental impact measures. In the first group, criteria such as gender equality and affirmative action, knowledge exchange among institutions, academic reputation, and employability are evaluated.

The second group encompasses aspects such as sustainable research, sustainable education and sustainable institutions – the latter assesses, for instance, the university’s sustainability strategy, the availability of an energy emissions report, and the existence of student societies focused on environmental sustainability, among others.

Check out the complete ranking results and more information about the methodology on the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2023 website.

Top Brazilian universities in the QS Sustainability Rankings:

1 – Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
2 – Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp)
3 – Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
4 – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Do Sul (UFRGS)
5 – Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)
6 – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
7 – Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC/RJ)
8 – Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
9 – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)
10 – Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM)

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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The results of the QS World University Rankings: Latin America 2023 were published on Thursday, 22 September, and ranked the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) among the 23 best universities in Latin America. UFSC occupies the 8th position among the Brazilian universities and the 4th among the federal education institutions in Brazil.

The ranking is produced annually by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a British company specialized in education. The ranking analyzed 428 institutions in 20 Latin American countries and at the top of the list is the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC). The overall score of each institution is calculated using eight metrics, each with a different weight: Academic Reputation (30%); Employer Reputation (20%); Faculty Student Ratio (10%); Faculty Staff with PhD (10%); International Research Network (10%); Citations per Paper (10%); Papers per Faculty (5%) and Web Impact (5%). The strongest indicators for UFSC in this edition were Faculty Staff with PhD (99.8 score), Web Impact (98.7 score) and International Research Network (96.3 score).

The university was also awarded at the QS Higher Ed Summit: Americas 2022, which took place between 22 and 23 September in Vila Velha, Espirito Santo. The conference gathered together higher education leaders and experts to discuss the “Mission-led Universities: elevating higher ed in the Americas”. The event promoted debates, lectures, panel discussions and case studies, in addition to the opportunity to network with the international higher education community and build strategic partnerships. UFSC was awarded in the Research Excellence category and was represented by the acting Prorector for Research, Prof. William Gerson Matias.

Check out the complete ranking results.

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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At least 25 out of the 30 undergraduate programs at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) that were assessed in the 2021 cycle of the National Student Performance Exam (Enade) have reached grade 4 or 5 on the evaluation made by the Ministry of Education (MEC). Out of these, ten have stood out for their excellence level. In a year marked by the effects of the pandemic in education, the results indicate the commitment of the institution to quality education.

Each year, Enade assesses the graduating students of a group of programs within different subject areas, in a rotation scheme. The assessment operates in triennial cycles, that is, the courses are reassessed every three years. In the 2021 cycle, on-campus and distance learning undergraduate degree programs, including teaching degree programs, were assessed. UFSC has stood out for obtaining the highest grades in the country in several teaching areas. The undergraduate teaching degree in Biological Sciences achieved the second-best position in the country among 467 assessed programs.

The undergraduate degree in Chemistry reached the maximum grade (5) and was considered the third best in the country according to the evaluation. Among the teaching degrees, the degree in Chemistry Education, on the Blumenau campus, stood out with the sixth-best grade; the degree in English (Education) also had an outstanding performance, being assessed as the fourth best in the country; and the degree in History (Education) reached the seventh-best grade among all programs in Brazil.

According to the Prorector for Undergraduate Studies and Basic Education, Prof. Dilceane Carraro, the Enade 2021 results demonstrate the quality of the undergraduate programs at UFSC. “This outcome is a result of the dedication of faculty, technical-administrative staff and students who engage in teaching, research and outreach activities, and make our university run programs graded 4 or 5, which are considered above average. Several programs are among the best in the country. Even with the adversities faced in the last years, both related to the pandemic and the funding of public universities, this evaluation reveals the commitment of everyone involved with UFSC undergraduate programs”.

Enade

The National Student Performance Exam is regulated by the law that institutes the Brazilian Higher Education Evaluation System (Sinaes) of 2004. It assesses the performance of graduating students from undergraduate programs concerning the content the programs aim to teach and the skills and competencies developed by the students over their studies. The Exam is mandatory: only the students who complete the Student’s Survey and the exam itself can graduate.

The Enade 2021 results were announced on 12 September. In December, MEC will release another two indicators: the Program Preliminary Concept (CPC) and the General Index of the Institution’s Assessed Programs (IGC). The CPC combines different aspects related to undergraduate programs in a single measurement, such as: student performance; value added by the program; faculty members; and conditions offered to the progression of the training process.

Every year, the exam covers one year of a triennial evaluation cycle. In 2021, students from the following degrees and subject areas were assessed:

• Undergraduate degrees in biological sciences; exact and earth sciences; linguistics, letters and arts; and related areas;
• Undergraduate teaching degrees in health sciences; human sciences; biological sciences; exact and earth sciences; linguistics, letters and arts;
• Undergraduate degrees in human sciences and health sciences, from programs assessed in the teaching degree area;
• Technologist degrees in control and industrial processes; information and communication; industrial production and infrastructure.

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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The QFruta? app, developed by the Computação na Escola [Computing at School] project, from the Department of Informatics and Statistics (INE) of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), was awarded third place in the adult track of the 2022 MIT Appathon for Good. Organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this is a marathon-style event to create applications – through the App Inventor platform – that solve one of the needs relating to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The QFruta? proposes to allow the registration and localization of fruit trees and supports the Sustainable Cities and Communities, Zero Hunger and Life on Land goals. According to Christiane Gresse von Wangenheim, a professor at INE and one of the award-winning team members, there is no prospect of making the application available in app stores. The reason is that the application would require manual monitoring of the points to be inserted, and there is no financial resource that allows for this type of action. However, the software code is available on cursos.computacaonaescola.ufsc.br/app-qfruta-2 to anyone interested in creating a similar application.

Computação na Escola is an initiative of the National Institute for Digital Convergence (Incod/INE/UFSC), in cooperation with the Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (IFSC) and endorsed by the Brazilian Society of Computing. The project is dedicated to teaching computing to primary and secondary education students and training them to be creators of information technologies (IT) solutions, through activities that encompass programming, user interface design and Machine Learning, among others. The idea is that QFruta? can also be used as an example in the courses.

In addition to Prof. von Wangenheim, the doctoral students Ramon M. Martins and Marcelo F. Rauber, from the Graduate Program in Computer Science (PPGCC) at UFSC, and the researcher Nathalie F. Ferreira participated in the development of the application.

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) was ranked 6th in the ranking of the best universities in Latin America published by Times Higher Education (THE). Amongst Brazilian universities, UFSC was ranked 4^th.

The Times Higher Education (THE) is a British magazine that publishes news and articles related to higher education, affiliated to The Times newspaper, which annually releases a set of rankings considered to be one of the most comprehensive, balanced, and reliable in the world. Universities are evaluated based on 13 performance indicators, including teaching, research, citations, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

In this year’s edition, 197 universities were assessed across 13 countries. In the top five positions are, respectively, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), the Universidade de Campinas (Unicamp), the Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp) and the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, in Mexico.

UFSC moved up five positions in comparison to last year´s edition. In the 2021 edition, the institution occupied the 11^th overall position and the 5^th among Brazilian institutions.

The complete ranking results is available on the Times Higher Education website.

Translated by SINTER/UFSC

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(Photo: Henrique Almeida/Agecom)

This Friday, 8 July, Professor Irineu Manoel de Souza and Professor Joana Célia dos Passos will take office as Rector and Vice-Rector of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). The inauguration ceremony will take place at the Garapuvu auditorium, in the Culture and Events Center, at 10 am, and will be broadcast on the Culture and Events Department’s YouTube Channel: DCEven UFSC – YouTube.

Professor de Souza and Professor dos Passos received the most votes in an informal consultation to the university community promoted by the representative entities of UFSC students, faculty and staff, last April. On 2 May, the University Council gathered in a special session to compose the three-nominee lists for the positions of Rector and Vice-Rector. Once more, they received the most votes.

The appointment of the elected officers was published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOU) on 5 July. Professor de Souza has already signed, remotely, the Investiture Agreement with the Ministry of Education (MEC). An investiture ceremony in Brasília will be scheduled at the appropriate time.

Invitation for the ceremony

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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NILT is located on the ground floor of the Rectorate Building II. (Photo: Henrique Almeida/Agecom)

Last Wednesday, 29 June, the Institutional Center for Languages and Translation (NILT) was inaugurated by the Office of International Relations (SINTER) at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). The Center, founded in 2021, aims to meet the needs of the internationalization process at UFSC.

The new space is located on the ground floor of the Rectorate Building II and includes classrooms for in-person courses, in addition to a computer laboratory for the administration of proficiency exams. The purpose is to complement what has already been offered by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (DLLE), focusing on UFSC’s internationalization, explained the Secretary for International Relations, Lincoln Fernandes.

“No internationalization process exists without a solid linguistic base. The proposal here is to break, instead of surrounding, this linguistic obstacle through a concrete action: NILT; and thereby consolidate, in a feasible way, the internationalization at UFSC”, emphasized Fernandes.

The event was attended by staff from SINTER, DLLE and the Central Administration staff. (Photo: Henrique Almeida/Agecom)

The Center has been offering online courses for the university community since last year. In 2022, it started offering in-person courses too. The courses are targeted at preparing UFSC students, faculty and staff to study abroad, aside from meeting the needs of foreign students at UFSC.

NILT courses are also aimed at assisting the UFSC campuses outside of Florianópolis, which have the need to develop their internationalization at home. Courses already held include classes on how to write an abstract for academic papers; learning academic writing in Brazilian Portuguese; writing motivation letters for studying abroad; and preparing for language proficiency exams.

According to the NILT Coordinator, Silvana de Gaspari, the structure of the Center includes a general coordination and specific coordinators for six foreign languages: German, Italian, Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese for foreigners. The courses offered are also accepted as internship activities for the UFSC undergraduate teaching degrees (licenciaturas), emphasizes the professor.

Inauguration

Plaque unveiling with the Rector, the Vice-Rector and the Secretary for International Relations. (Photo: Henrique Almeida/Agecom)

The inauguration event was attended by UFSC’s Rector, Ubaldo Cesar Balthazar, the Vice-Rector, Catia Regina Silva de Carvalho Pinto, the Prorector for Outreach and Extension, Rogério Cid Bastos, the Secretary for Distance Learning, Luciano Bastos, the Secretary for Institutional Improvement, Liz Beatriz Sass, in addition to other authorities, such as the Administrative and Financial Director of the Foundation for Socioeconomic Studies and Research (FEPESE), Mauro dos Santos Fiuza.

The Rector thanked and praised SINTER for its efforts to innovate for a consolidated internationalization at UFSC. “We will see the importance of this moment further on, over time, when the results of this effort appear. Congratulations for the initiative, for having ideas, for wanting to be inventive and encouraging mutual learning”, said him.

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

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