University of São Paulo


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Universidade de São Paulo
Shield of the University of São Paulo
Motto: Scientia Vinces (Latin)
Motto in English: Through knowledge you win
Established: August 11, 1827 (oldest constituent faculty - faculty of law); January 25, 1934 (granted university status as a federation of faculties)
Type: Public university
Rector: Suely Vilela Sampaio
Staff: 5,222
Undergraduates: 48,530 (2005)
Postgraduates: 25,007 (2005)
Location: São Paulo, São Carlos
Ribeirão Preto and other 4 cities, São Paulo, Brazil
Campus: Urban
Website: www.usp.br

The University of São Paulo (in Portuguese Universidade de São Paulo; USP) is one of the three public universities funded by the State of São Paulo.

USP is one of the largest institutions of higher education in Brazil and Latin America, with approximately 75,000 enrolled students. It comprises eleven campi, four of them in the City of São Paulo[6] (the main campus is called Campus Armando de Salles Oliveira, with an area of 7,443,770 m²). There are campuses in the cities of Bauru, Lorena, Piracicaba, Pirassununga, Ribeirão Preto and two in São Carlos. USP is involved in teaching, research and university extension in all areas of knowledge.

USP is considered as Brazil's top academic and research institute[citation needed]. The Times Higher Education 2008 World University Rankings ranks USP as the 196th top university in the world, with the best ranking in Latin America. According to the 2008 Academic Ranking of World Universities, published by the Shanghai Jiaotong University, USP is placed in the group of the 101-151 top world universities.[1]

Contents

History

Main building of the College of Law, located in São Paulo downtown, circa 1948

During the "search for alternatives" period in the 1930s, political centralization and the first attempt to provide Brazil with modern administrative, military and educational institutions took place. The main initiatives included the University of São Paulo, which was created in 1934. Its nucleus was the creation of the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters, with professors coming from France, Italy, Germany and other European countries. USP also brought together several research and higher-education institutions in the state created before, such as the Faculty of Medicine (Faculdade de Medicina), the Polytechnic School (Escola Politécnica), and the College of Law (Faculdade de Direito). The Polytechnic School includes civil, electrical, mechanical, mining, metallurgical, naval and oceanic, and chemical engineering departments.

Admissions

Student Housing complex, central campus of São Paulo

Students are admitted by an entrance exam, known as the vestibular (FUVEST), consisting of two steps:

  • Part II is composed of up to 40 write-in, short-answer questions related to each candidate's intended major. Engineering candidates, for example, take Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry exams, whereas Law-School applicants are required to take History and Geography tests. All candidates however, irrespective of their intended course, must take the Portuguese Language and Literature exam, which includes a compulsory written essay.

Moreover, candidates who attended a public school for their entire course of high-school studies get up to 12% bonus on their Part I and Part II scores, in order to compensate for the generally low quality of Brazilian public basic education.

USP's entrance exam is prepared and administered by FUVEST (University Foundation for Vestibular), subject to regulations approved by the university's Undergraduate Studies Council. In 2006, 142,656 students signed up for Fuvest's vestibular to apply for admission to the University of São Paulo. There were 10,202 openings. One of the most competitive courses was Journalism, with about 45 applicants per opening. In order to pass to Part II, the most difficult course (Medicine) required a grade of 83%. USP is a free university, and students do not have to pay tuition fees.

Academic career

Central plaza at USP's main campus at São Paulo City, showing the Clock Tower
  • Teaching Assistant (Auxiliar de Ensino) - MS-2 (must have a Master's degree and be enrolled in a doctoral program). Undergraduate students can also be teaching assistant for a semester, with scholarship from each department.
  • Professor Doctor(Professor Doutor) - MS-3 (must have a doctoral or equivalent degree)
  • Associate Professor (Professor Associado) - MS-5 (must have a Livre Docente title; equivalent to the German Habilitation)
  • Full Professor(Professor Titular) - MS-6 (top rank, only MS-6 professors are allowed to hold positions such as Dean of a Faculty/School or Rector of the University)

Race and ancestries

In a survey with students of the University of São Paulo, 76.9% reported to be White, 12.8% Asian, 7% Pardo (brown), 1.2% Black, 0.4% indigenous, and 1.7% did not answer the question.

98.5% of the students were Brazilian born, 0.5% naturalized Brazilians and 1% foreigners. 92.7% of the students hold only a Brazilian citizenship and 7.3% hold a dual-citizenship (56.7% Italian citizenship, 9.3% Portuguese, 8.5% Spanish, 6% German, 4.2% Japanese and 4% American).

Asked if they are "descendants of foreign immigrants", 81% of the students reported "yes", which reflects the majority of the population of the State of São Paulo, which is mostly composed of descendants of 19th and 20th centuries immigrants who went to Brazil. The main reported ancestries were: Italian (30.5%), Portuguese (23%), Spanish (14%), Japanese (8%), German (5.6%), "Brazilian" (4.3%), African (2.8%), Arab (2.4%) and Jew (1.2%) .[2]

One curious fact if that people reported as Asian in the Brazilian census make up only 2% of the population in Greater São Paulo, while in the University of São Paulo they are almost 13% of the students. Also, Whites make up 60.3% of the population, while in the University they are almost 77%. The census reported 30.3% of Pardos (brown) in Greater São Paulo, but they are only 7% of the students and Blacks were 7% in the census, but only 1.2% in the University. This trend reflects the racial disparities in Brazilian society: people of European and Asian descent have greater access to colleges, while blacks and mixed-race people rarely succeed.[3]

Notable Alumni

Presidents of Brazil

São Paulo state governors

Politicians

Writers

Scientists and physicians

Others

Notes

  • The Polytechnic School has a program known as "double diploma", where the graduation course is legally valid in both Brazil and the European Union[citation needed].
  • For six months, USP had a supercomputer indicated on the TOP500 list on rank 363. It was the only Brazilian university who appeared in that list[citation needed].
  • In the 2007 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, created by the Higher Education & Accreditation Council of Taiwan, USP was listed in 94th place[4].
  • USP was classified in the 35th place, in the 2008 survey of the Professional Ranking of World Universities [10] (this listing is created by MINES ParisTech).
  • Computer science students from USP were ranked 47th in the ACM ICPC 2008 World Finals[5]. They were ranked 32nd in the previous year[6].

Global Engineering Study

The "Global Engineering Excellence" will study the importance of technology in the competitiveness of nations. The selected universities are:

Schools, Faculties and Institutes

Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences - Geography and History building
Institute of Oceanography

School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities

Courses: Fashion and Textiles, Tourism and Leisure, Environmental Management, Gerontology, Information Systems, Marketing, Obstetrics, Physical Education, Public Administration, Science Education

School of Communications and Arts

Courses: "Audiovisual" Arts (Film, Animation and TV), Theatre (Acting, Directing, Dramaturgy and Scenography), Communications (Journalism, Editing and Publishing, Advertising and Publicity, Public Relations), Library Science, Music (Conducting, Composing, specific musical instrument, Singing), Plastic Arts (Printmaking, Painting, Multimedia and Sculpture), Tourism

School of Physical Education and Sports

Courses: Physical Education and Sports Science

School of Nursing

Course: Nursing

Ribeirão Preto School of Nursing

Course: Nursing

Lorena School of Engineering

Courses: Biochemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemical Industrial Engineering, Materials Engineering

São Carlos School of Engineering

Courses: Architecture and Urban Planning, Aeronautical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Production Engineering, Electrical Engineering (Electronic Engineering or Energy and Automation Systems), Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics

Polytechnical School

Courses: Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Materials Engineering, Mining Engineering, Production Engineering, Electrical Engineering (Control and Automation, Computer Engineering, Energy and Automation, Electronic Systems, Telecommunications), Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Metallurgical Engineering, Naval Engineering, Chemical Engineering (Materials), Petroleum Engineering

Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture

Courses: Agricultural Engineering, Biology, Food Science, Economics, Forestry, Environmental Management, Agricultural Education, Biology Education

Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism

Courses: Architecture and Urban Planning, Design

Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Course: Pharmacy and Biochemistry

Ribeirão Preto Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Course: Pharmacy and Biochemistry

Faculty of Law

Course: Law

Faculty of Law of Ribeirão Preto

Course: Law

Faculty of Economy, Management and Accounting

Courses: (Business Administration), Economics, Accounting, Actuarial Science

Faculty of Economy, Management and Accounting of Ribeirão Preto)

Courses: Management (Business Administration), Economics, Accounting

Faculty of Education

Course: Pedagogy

Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences

Courses: Geography, History, Languages and Literatures (German, Arab, Armenian, Chinese, Spanish, French, Greek, Hebrew, English, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Portuguese, Russian), Linguistics, Philosophy, Social Sciences (Anthropology, Political Science, Sociology)

Faculty of Medicine

Courses: Medicine, Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy

Ribeirão Preto Faculty of Medicine

Courses: Biosciences (medicine emphasis), Medicine, Biomedical Informatics, Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science

Course: Veterinary Medicine

Faculty of Odontology

Course: Dentistry

Bauru Faculty of Odontology

Courses: Dentistry, Speech and Language Therapy

Ribeirão Preto Faculty of Odontology

Course: Dentistry

Faculty of Public Health

Courses: Nutrition, Public Health (graduate studies)

Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering

Courses: Animal Science, Food Engineering

Institute of Oceonography

Course: Oceanography

Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences

Courses: Astronomy, Geophysics, Meteorology,

Institute of Biosciencies

Course: Biology

Institute of Biomedical Sciences

Course: Health Sciences

Institute of Mathematics Sciences and Computer Science of São Carlos

Courses: Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Scientific Computing, Computer Science and Informatics

Institute of Physics

Course: Physics

Institute of Physics of São Carlos

Courses: Physics, Computational physics, Biomolecular sciences, Exact Sciences (Teaching)

Institute of Geosciences

Course: Geology, Environment and Geosciences (Teaching)

Institute of Mathematics and Statistics

Courses: Applied Mathematics and Computer Mathematics, Mathematics (Bachelor and Teaching), Statistics and Computer Science

Institute os Psychology

Course: Psychology

Institute of Chemistry

Courses: Chemistry

Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos

Courses: Exact Sciences (Teaching), Chemistry

Institute of Foreign Affairs

Course: International Relations

Museums and art galleries

Museu Paulista (Museu do Ipiranga)

The University of São Paulo has endowed a rich set of museums and important art galleries, most of them located in the central campus in São Paulo, such as:

  • Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo (Museum of Contemporary Art)
  • Museu Paulista (Historical Museum of São Paulo)
  • Museu de Zoologia (Museum of Zoology)

References

  1. ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities - Top 500 World Universities (101-200) [1]
  2. ^ Universidade de São Paulo - race and ancestries[2]
  3. ^ Síntese de Indicadores Sociais 2007. São Paulo, Brazil: IBGE. 2007. ISBN 85-240-3919-1, ftp://ftp.ibge.gov.br/Indicadores_Sociais/Sintese_de_Indicadores_Sociais_2007/Tabelas. Retrieved on 18 July 2007. 
  4. ^ 2007 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities - Higher Education & Accreditation Council of Taiwan[3]
  5. ^ 2007 ACM-ICPC World Finals 2008[4]
  6. ^ 2007 ACM-ICPC World Finals Scoreboard - Finals Statistics[5]

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: University of São Paulo

See also







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