Secretaria de Relações Internacionais | Office of International Relations

On 15 October 2024, the Brazilian delegation, made up of representatives from several universities and led by Brazilian Ambassador to Russia, Rodrigo Baena Soares, embassy attaché, Marcelo Böhlke and deputy minister of Education, Alexandre Brasil Carvalho da Fonseca, took part in strategic meetings in Moscow in order to strengthen academic partnerships. The mission was organized by the Brazilian Embassy in Moscow and was attended by the following Brazilian universities: UFSC; UDESC; UNESP; UNICAMP; UFRGS; UFRJ; UFMG; UFABC; UFES; UFJF; UFNT; UFOB; UFOP; UFPA; UFRN; FURG; UFSB; UFSB; UNB; UNIFEI, and CNEN (Centro Nacional de Energia Nuclear) [National Center for Nuclear Energy] of the Ministry of Technology and Innovation. The Secretary for International Relations, Prof. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho represented UFSC in the mission.

Secretary for International Relations, Prof. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro and RSUH Vice-rector, Prof. Vera Zabotkina, signing the cooperation agreement UFSC-RSUH.

On the morning of 15 October, the delegation met with the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), which currently has an agreement underway with UFSC. The meeting featured speeches by the Russian authorities such as rector Audrey Loginov and Dr. Ksenia Trinchenko, director of International Cooperation Department at the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Academy of Sciences. They emphasized the importance of cooperation between both countries. Brazilian representatives, in addition to the ambassador and the deputy minister of Education, the president of ANDIFES and rector of UFRN, José Daniel Diniz Melo, also reinforced the opportunities for academic cooperation.

UFSC stood out at the meeting when RSUH vice-rector, Prof. Vera Zabotkina, mentioned the role of the university in the UNESCO Chair, coordinated by Prof. Gilvan Müller. She also praised the student Gustavo Scalabrin Hübner, who was an exchange student at RSUH in 2023. Prof. Lyudmila Baturina, director of the International Russian-Brazilian Center, highlighted the work of UFSC professors Fred Campos and Beatriz Azevedo in the study group PRORUS, strengthening partnerships between the institutions.

Message from the student Gustavo Scalabrin Hübner, who was an exchange student at RSUH in 2023.

During the meeting, the universities discussed possibilities for scientific cooperation, joint research and mobility. RSUH demonstrated interest in co-supervision and funding for undergraduate and graduate students. RSUH is an institution of excellence, among the best in the world and very willing to work together with Brazil. For UFSC, this is a great opportunity. Some of the knowledge areas that RSUH stands out in are anthropology, through the Institute of Social Anthropology, International Relations and Political Science, the Institute of Psychology, with emphasis on L. S. Vygotsky studies, and language studies, including Portuguese. And other areas within the field of Humanities. An interesting observation is that there were RSUH students attending the whole event.

In the afternoon, the delagation visited the Skoltech Institute of Science and Technology, a cutting edge institute focused on innovation and partnerships with companies.

The mission was characterized by productive exchanges and celebrations, including a toast to the renewal of the cooperation agreement with RSUH, signaling a new phase of academic cooperation between Brazil and Russia.

Opening ceremony of the I UFSC International Week in the CCS Auditorium. Photo: Andrey Santiago/Agecom/UFSC

The first edition of UFSC International Week began on Monday, 21 October, with the debate on topics related to the internationalization of higher education and the need to strengthen academic partnerships. It was organized by the Prorectorate for Graduate Studies (PROPG), the Office of International Relations (Sinter) and the Prorectorate for Research and Innovation (Propesq). The event offers a program made up of panels, conferences, round tables and other activities aimed at sharing internationalization experiences.

The planned activities began in the morning, and the opening ceremony was held on Monday night, in the School of Health Sciences (CCS) Auditorium, on the Trindade Campus, in Florianópolis. The ceremony was attended by the Rector of UFSC, Irineu Manoel de Souza; the Prorector for Graduate Studies, Werner Kraus Jr.; the Secretary for International Relations, Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho; the Prorector for Research and Innovation, Jacques Mick; the Director of International Relations of the Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) [Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel], Rui Vicente Oppermann; and the Prorector for Research and Graduate Studies of the Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (Udesc), Sérgio Henrique Pezzin.

>Watch the opening ceremony of the Week

Coordinator of the UFSC I International Week, Professor Werner Kraus, highlighted the “intense schedule of activities” of the five-day event. In addition to holding a conference and three main panels, the prorector highlighted the number of works registered for the parallel sessions (about 50 presentations, most of them linked to the Capes-PrInt Program). “It will be a very fruitful week. I am sure that we will all be very pleased with what will be discussed and with the prospects that lie ahead of us, “said Werner.

In turn, Prof. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho stated that the implementation of UFSC’s internationalization policy has been built on basic principles, such as reciprocity, academic excellence, solidarity and diversity. In his speech, he also stressed that this process should involve the entire university community, including professors, students, and technical-administrative staff (TAEs).

Professor Sérgio Pezzin, who represented the Udesc Rectorate at the time, defended a closer action between both universities, with the objective of expanding academic partnerships and strengthening relations between the institutions. “UFSC is a very important partner for Udesc, just as Udesc is for UFSC. We have many complementary areas in which we can, together, be stronger, strengthening our work and working as a network, “he said.

The Rector of UFSC, Irineu Manoel de Souza, reinforced that the internationalization of the University must occur in a comprehensive way, involving undergraduate and graduate programs, research and outreach. “I am sure that the Week will pave the way for important discussions for our University. Despite the financial difficulties, we have the prospect of new moments, dialog, expanding knowledge and making the University really the motivating factor of a new society, nationally and internationally, “said Irineu.

Shortly after the session, Capes’ Director of International Relations, Rui Oppermann, gave a presentation on the activities of the Foundations. He highlighted that “internationalization is in the DNA of CAPES”, since the first activities developed there were faculty development programs in countries such as France, the United States and England. Opperman also presented a panorama of stricto sensu Graduate Studies in Brazil. According to data from 2022, the country today has 4,592 graduate programs, with 7,027 courses, distributed in 425 institutions, 49% of them public and 33% belonging to the federal network.

Capes is the main distributor of scholarships in Brazil, responsible for financing 79% of the total. Currently, the Coordination maintains 47,187 master’s scholarships and 52,895 doctoral scholarships. Next, it is the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), with only 8% of the total: 4,310 master’s scholarships and 6,097 doctoral scholarships.

Afterwards, Professor André Brasil, from the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands, spoke about the evaluation methods in the context of internationalization. Also affiliated with Capes, André is a researcher at the Center for Science and Technology Studies (CSTs) and a member of the UNESCO Chair on Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science. His research focuses on national evaluation systems, scientometrics, academic publishing, open science, responsible research and innovation (RRI), and diversity in science, especially with regard to multilingualism and geographic inclusion.

Throughout the week, the program was full of additional activities — proposed by the UFSC community itself — and lectures on internationalization in Higher Education, with the participation of UFSC authorities and professors, as well as guests from institutions abroad and professionals related to Internationalization.

The UFSC I International Week closes this Friday (25 October).

> Watch the event on UFSC Internacional YouTube channel

For more information access: sinter.ufsc.br/semanainternacional.

Reproduced by the UFSC Communication Agency, with additions by the Office of International Relations (SINTER/UFSC).

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

Between 21 and 25 October 2024, the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina will held the I UFSC International Week, an event that will bring together experts, scholars and the university community to discuss issues related to the internationalization of higher education. The event organized by the Office of International Relations (SINTER), the Prorectorate for Graduate Studies (PROPG) and the Prorectorate for Research and Innovation (PROPESQ) will offer panels, conferences, round tables and other activities aimed at sharing internationalization experiences.

The official opening of the event is scheduled for 21 October 2024, at 6:30 p.m., in the Auditorium of the School of Health Sciences (CCS). The keynote will be delivered by Professor André Brasil from the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands. Throughout the week, participants can look forward to thematic panels exploring key topics such as internationalization of scientific research and graduate programs, as well as future opportunities for the international collaboration at UFSC. Notable participants include Hans de Wit, professor emeritus at the International Higher Education, Boston College, in the United States, and Rui Oppermann, director of International Relations at Capes.

In addition to the panels, the Week will include activities related to UFSC’s subprojects within Capes’ Institutional Internationalization Program (Capes-PrInt), as well as other internationalization initiatives proposed by the university community.

The I UFSC International Week is expected to be a significant milestone for the university, enhancing international cooperation networks and reaffirming its commitment to academic excellence and global solidarity.

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The QS World University Rankings: Latin America & The Caribbean 2025, released on Thursday, 3 October, ranked the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) as the 21st best universities in Latin America, and 18^th best in South America. UFSC is among the top 5% of all evaluated universities. Within Brazil, the institution ranked 8th overall and 4^th among federal universities. UFSC achieved a final score of 76.6 (on a scale from 1 to 100), a notable increase from the 68.7 score it received last year, when it was ranked 23rd in Latin America. This marks a significant improvement in the university’s performance.

The QS Rankings, produced annually by the British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), evaluated 437 institutions across 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Leading the rankings this year is the Universidade de São Paulo (USP).

UFSC’s indicator scores in the QS World Rankings: Latin America and the Caribbean 2025.

Universities are evaluated based on eight indicators, each with weighted differently: academic reputation (30%); employer reputation (20%); faculty student ratio (10%); staff with PhD (10%); international research network (10%); citations per paper (10%); papers per faculty (5%) and web impact (5%). In this edition, UFSC excelled particularly in web impact (99.4), staff with PhD (99.1 score), and paper per faculty (98.5 score).

According to UFSC’s Director of International Relations, Dr. Fernanda Leal, the results reflect the university’s strong reputation, a criterion that accounts for 50% of the overall score. She notes that UFSC’s position also highlights its role as one of the leading research universities in Latin America. However, Dr. Leal emphasizes the limitations of relying on rankings for decision-making and formulating institutional internationalization policies, particularly due to their competitive nature and the lack of consideration for key factors that shape Brazilian public universities, such as outreach and community engagement.

Evolution of UFSC over the years in the ranking.

A fundamental aspect in evaluating universities’ performance, especially public ones, is their impact on society, says the Secretary for International Relations, Prof. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho. “This aspect has been addressed by university rankings, but still in an indirect way. The evaluations primarily reflect the academic work of universities, focusing on teaching, research and innovation. Faculty, staff and students engaged in academic work should therefore be congratulated, but those who work in the intermediary activities, which support these efforts, should also be recognized”, he states. The Secretary for International Relations aadded that the QS rakings assigned a 15% weight to the “global engagement” lens and that UFSC’s position in the ranking also reflects an internationalization effort by the entire academic community.

Regarding UFSC’s articles and external citations from 2018 and 2023, the primary focus was on research in the subjects of Life Sciences & Medicine.

Check out the complete ranking results on the QS website.