The University of Brasília (in Portuguese: Universidade de Brasília, known simply as UnB), is one of the largest and one of the most respected public Federally-sponsored universities in Brazil, located in the country's capital, Brasília.
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 21 de abril, 1962 |
| Rector | Timothy Martin Mulholland |
| Undergraduates | 19.636 |
| Postgraduates | 7.677 |
| Location | , , |
| Campus | Urban, 3.950.579m² |
| Website | www.unb.br |
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It was inaugurated on April 21, 1962 as planned by educator Anísio Teixeira and anthropologist Professor Darcy Ribeiro (who became its first Chancellor). As of 2004, it had 1,297 professors and 2,278 employees as well as over 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Each semester, the University of Brasília accepts nearly 2,000 incoming students for its 61 undergraduate programs. On the graduate level, the university offers 49 Master's degree and 27 PhD programs.
It has 22 institutes; 50 departments; 16 scientific, technological, cultural, artistic and general service centers; student and staff residences; a University Hospital; a Sports Center; a Seismological Observatory; several physical experiment facilities, including plasma, liquid crystals, complex fluids and optical spectroscopy; an Animal Research Laboratory; a library with a huge archive; a restaurant for students; a farm for ecological, agricultural and forestry research; and an Ecological Station. University of Brasília is also about to build its own technological park. It offers one of the most disputated vestibular of the country.
The University was also very innovative, as it was one of the first in Brazil to offer the Continuous Evaluation Program (in Portuguese: Programa de Avaliação Seriada, known as PAS), an alternative way for high school students to get into college without having to pass by the two phases of vestibular.
The University of Brasilia
The University of Brasilia Foundation was created by Law 3.988 of December 15, 1961. Professor Darcy Ribeiro, who became its first Chancellor, was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of its creation. The architect Oscar Niemeyer designed its main building, the Central Institute of Science (ICC). From its very beginning, the University of Brasilia (UnB) strived for excellence in teaching, research and outreach courses open to the community at large, thereby ranking as one of the most respected universities in Brazil.
UnB is located in the heart of Brasilia, on the banks of Paranoá Lake. Marked by their unmistakable modernist architecture, is physical facilities house 22 institutes and schools; 50 departments; 16 scientific, technological, cultural, artistic and general service centers; student, faculty and staff residences; a University Hospital; a Sports Center equipped with swimming pools, race-track and various sports fields and courts; a Seismological Observatory capable of registering earthquakes across the planet; an Animal Research Laboratory and an Ecological Station. UnB is also about to build its own technological park.
Open from 7 AM to 11:45 PM, UnB’s Central Library has the largest archive in Midwestern Brazil and caters to the needs of the Federal District and of researches from across the nation. UnB also maintains a modern university restaurant, as well as the Fazenda Água Limpa, a farm in the outskirts of Brasilia where ecological, agricultural and forestry research is conducted.
Teaching
Each semester, the University of Brasilia accepts nearly 2.000 incoming students from a pool of approximately 25.000 candidates for its 61 daytime or evening undergraduate programs. On the graduate level, the university offers 56 MA programs and 31 PhD programs. It also offers various advanced non-degree programs, many of them conducted in other Brazilian States – such as Bahia, Amazonas, Rondônia, Goiás and Rio Grande do Norte. The Technological and Scientific Development National Council (CNPq) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) support most of these courses, offering scholarships and research grants.
Distance education is another expanding activity in UnB, being managed by the Center for Open, Continuous and Long Distance Education (CEAD) and the School of Education. The United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) sponsors the Long Distance Education chair at UnB.
Extension Course
UnB’s relationship with the community is not limited to preparing efficient instructors and divulging knowledge. It also actively stimulates decision-making skills and good citizenship.
Presently, the university runs no less than 115 community-outreach projects, offering a total of 438 courses and events. Involving the direct participation of 240 professors and 65.132 students, these activities reach nearly 185.000 people in the Federal District and the surrounding region.
The outreach activities include, but are not restricted to: the Future with Art, Culture and Sport (FACE) program; the Community Initiatives Advisory Program (PRATICOM); the Program for Worker and Trade Union Leadership Training (PROSINT); the Rural Development Program and the Model Office for Legal Assistance. University members also offer consulting and assistance to the Community Health Training Program (PAC’s).
The Dean of Outreach Programs has recently formalized its Outreach School, which will expand the number of courses offered, further opening the doors of university to the community.
Research
Scientific research has always been a priority marking the very essence of the University of Brasilia – even from its creation. More than 260 formally constituted research-groups work in more than 400 different laboratories, investigating close to 890 different areas. This research is supported by such programs as the Technological and Scientific Initiation Program (PIBIC) and the Special Training Program (PET), which also offers scholarships to gifted undergraduates. Among other agencies, programs are funded by the CNPq, the CAPES, the Research and Projects Funding Program (FINEP), the Technological and Scientific Development Support Program (PADCT) and the Federal District Research Support Foundation (FAPDF).
Other key players in the research area are the International Center for Condensed Matter Physics (CIFMC), the Brazilian Center for Protein Sequencing (CBSP), the Center for Maintenance of Equipment (CME) and the university Herbarium. The Technological Development Center (CDT) works to integrate the University to the business world, maintaining a small business start-up program and other types of consulting assistance to the entrepreneurial upstarts.
PAS:An evolution in entrance examinations
UnB had to innovate. At the moment, the Continuous Evaluation Program (PAS) represents a leap ahead in the administration of entrance examinations. Introducing novelty and dynamism to application and acceptance procedures, it has fostered motivation, stimulated interactivity and allowed better academic results among high school students.
With PAS, students who want to study in the University are given the opportunity to be evaluated on a yearly basis during their three years of high school. This not only allows the university to know its prospective students better, but also stimulates them to study more intensely and continuously from their first day in high school. It is more rational and cost-efficient than the old system of one single entrance examination.
A University ahead of its time
“A university has to know all about the past and the present, but it must be ahead of its time”. Under this strategic plan, UnB is accomplishing its mission and pursuing new horizons. Through the Internet address www.unb.br, it is already possible to follow many of the university’s activities and discover – each day – more of what is being done at UnB. One of the latest novelties, for instance, is that UnB Press has become the first virtual university bookstore in Brazil.
The University has also developed its High Speed Multimedia UnB Net (REDUnB) and posted the electronic UnB Central Library Archive, offering more than 3.000 scientific, cultural and artistic references.
Through the International Affairs Office it is also possible to acquire all the information needed to establish contact with the University of Brasilia for a wide variety of cooperation and exchange programs.
Undergraduate Courses
HUMANITIES (Daytime): Administration, Architecture and Urbanism, Bachelor’s Degree in Arts, Bachelor’s Degree in Theater, Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design, Library Science, Accounting Studies, Economics, Political Science, Social Sciences, Communication (Journalism, Advertising and Radio), Law, Philosophy, Geography, History, Language and Literature (English, French, Portuguese and Spanish), Portuguese as a Second Language, Translation (English and French), Teaching Degree in Artistic Education, Bachelor’s Degree in Music, Pedagogy, International Relations, Social Service.
HUMANITIES (Evening): Administration, Archive Studies, Accounting Studies, Teaching Degree in Language and Literature (Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese), Teaching Degree in Artistic Education, Pedagogy (teachers training), Law.
SCIENCES (Daytime): Agronomy, Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Biology, Physical Education, Nursing and Obstetrics, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Forest Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Statistics, Geology, Mathematics, Medicine, Nutrition, Dentistry, Psychology, Chemistry, Engineering of Computing Networks, Veterinary Science, Pharmaceutical Science, Mechatronic, Data Processing, Physics.
SCIENCES (Evening): Teaching Degree in Mathematics, in Physics, in Chemistry, in Biology, Computer Science.
Graduate Courses
Master programs: Architecture and Urbanism, Health Sciences, Tropical Medicine, Molecular Pathology, Communication, Law, Education, Administration, Library Science, Agronomy, Structure and Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Geotechnics, Environmental Technology and Hydrolic Resources, Urban Transports, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Sciences & Forestry, Arts, Political Science, International Relations Studies, Molecular Biology, Botany, Ecology, Animal Biology, Phytopathology, Computer Science, Statistics and Quantitative Methods, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Anthropology, Economics, Geography, History, Social Politics, Sociology, Geology, English, Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Literature, Psychology, Environmental Studies, General Practice.
PhD degree: Health Science, Tropical Medicine, Immunology and Applied Genetics, Information Science, Geotechnics, Molecular Biology, Ecology, Phytopathology, Mathematic, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Comparative Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Geology, Literature, Psychology, Environmental Studies & Planning, Molecular Pathology, Structures and Civil Engineering, Urban Transports, Electrical Engineering.
SCIENCES (Evening): Teaching Degree in Mathematics, in Physics, in Chemistry, in Biology, Computer Science.
Exchange Programmes
The university accepts international students by:
Exchange programmes - These are for international students from academic institutions and organizations that have an agreement or an accord signed with the university. The programme lasts minimum from six months to one year.
Under graduate Students’ Programme - This programme (PEC-G - Programa de Estudante Convênio de Graduação) is for the students from university institutions of developing countries that have developed activities in cooperation with the Brazilian government. Students from Latin America, Africa and Asia are the biggest partners of the UnB in this project. The PEC-G searches the formation of human resources in developing countries and also wants to extend the effectiveness for the origin countries.
Pos Graduate Programme - This programme (PEC-PG - Programa de Estudante Convênio de Pós-Graduação) is through the Brazilian embassies abroad. The main objective is to promote the qualification of senior staff of the developing countries, by offering masters and doctorate degrees.
Courtesy of the Federal Constitution - This is foreseen by the Brazilian Federal Constitution and the foreign affairs treats to the diplomats that are working in Brasilia, the capital of the country, and to its legal dependents.
Some notable alumni and faculty
- Darcy Ribeiro, antropologist, founder.
- Anísio Teixeira, educator, founder.
- Oscar Niemeyer,architect, Pritzker Prize 1988, founder.
- Athos Bulcão, artist, founder.
- Cyro dos Anjos, writer.
- Cláudio Santoro, composer and violinist.
- Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco, diplomat and poet.
- Nelson Pereira dos Santos, cineast.
- Roberto Saturnino Braga, engineer and politician.
- Roberto Aureliano Salmeron, nuclear physicist.
- Otto Richard Gottlieb, chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry nominee.