The results of the QS World University Rankings have just been published and for the ninth consecutive time, the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) is one of the ranked universities.

UFSC is among the 1,000 best universities in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings. The institution continues to be ranked between 801st and 1000th, the same as in the previous edition.

The ranking is produced annually by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a British company specializing in education, which uses methods of data collection and analysis resulting from surveys of more than 45,000 employers and 94,000 experts around the world.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major impacts on several spheres of our society, such as in the area of education. At the level of Higher Education, the pandemic had a catalyst role in the consolidation of remote learning. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in partnership with Universidad del Valle (Colombia) were pioneers in this process.

The process began when the coordinators of the cooperation agreement between the two institutions, Professor Lívia Arcêncio do Amaral (Brazil) and Professor Esther Cecília Wilches Luna (Colombia), who were already developing projects together, established contacts with the offices of international relations of their respective institutions with the aim of offering undergraduate students from both institutions the opportunity to carry out exchange of academic experiences virtually.

In 2020, 23 courses were offered in the pilot program and 17 students from UFSC and 10 students from UNIVALLE participated in its first edition. The experience was considered very fruitful by both teachers and students, particularly in a context of such difficulties in maintaining engagement in the educational process.

The professors behind the initiative are evaluating the experience with the intention of deepening the existing cooperation, offering even more opportunities to the academic community of both universities.

The occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the process already planned by our university regarding virtual mobility. Thus, to complement other initiatives already in progress, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) has developed its Virtual Mobility Program for extension courses (PMV). The initiative aims to strengthen relations with our foreign partners in order to offer an international environment and contribute to the academic intercultural education of future global citizens.

Within a plurilingual and multilingual linguistic policy, each course has its own language, such as Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and French. The 2021 edition also includes a course in LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language), which is taught in English.  It should be noted that the courses are taught asynchronously, which will allow students to participate at a time that is most convenient for them. The courses are aimed at our regularly enrolled students, students from partner institutions and the external community.

The main benefits for a student taking part on this type of initiative are: global learning for all and integrated into the curriculum; applied learning; development of skills needed for the 21st century; intercultural awareness and competence development; interdisciplinary application of knowledge; diversity and inclusion; scalable and low cost internationalization; and high impact practice for teaching and learning.

The 10 courses offered take place from June to August 2021, and two classes of each course are planned. For more information about the application period and the program content, please consult https://pmv-sinter.ufsc.br/.

 SOURCE: https://noticias.ufsc.br/2021/04/ufsc-desenvolve-programa-de-cursos-virtuais-de-extensao-em-linguas-estrangeiras/

The Brazilian Portuguese Survival Course was idealized by the Office of International Relations (SINTER) and produced by the Office of Distance Learning (SEAD) of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC).

This course focuses on the need of our partners to have a first contact with the structure and vocabulary of Brazilian Portuguese before starting their mobility and/or academic cooperation activities in our federal institution of higher education.

The aim of the course is to enable students, faculty and technical-administrative staff from various parts of the world to carry out mobility and academic cooperation at UFSC through a virtual course that:

• Provides structure and vocabulary so that the participants are able to communicate in an elementary level;
• Assists in the process of welcoming its participants upon their arrival at UFSC;
• Raises interest in learning the Brazilian language and culture.

The course is offered 100% online through the Moodle Platform, which is the Virtual Learning Environment (AVA) in which the participant will have access to the contents, resources and activities.

The first edition of the course will be offered to our international partners from English speaking countries to give them the opportunity of a first contact with the Brazilian language and culture in a practical and relaxed way.

 We will soon get in touch with our international partners to offer more details about the Brazilian Portuguese Survival Course.

The offer of courses taught in English is one of the essential actions for the strengthening of internationalization at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Considering the need to attract international students from leading universities, as well as to offer UFSC students the possibility of cultural interaction with people from different countries and the improvement on the knowledge of a second language, the Office of International Relations (SINTER) developed the Catalogue of Courses offered in Foreign Languages for undergraduate and graduate students at UFSC.

The first edition of the Course Catalogue was published in the second semester of 2018 on SINTER’s website, containing 3 undergraduate courses and 31 graduate courses offered in the Florianópolis campus during the years of 2018 and 2019. The second edition was published in the beginning of the first semester of 2020, containing 12 undergraduate courses and 60 graduate courses offered in the Florianópolis and Joinville campuses during the years of 2020 and 2021. The courses were offered either in English or Spanish.

The first catalogue was a successful pilot project, in which proposals of undergraduate and graduate courses were submitted after consulting with faculty members and their respective programs. With the proposals gathered, the translation staff at SINTER assisted at the translation of the course descriptions, and UFSC Communication Agency (AGECOM) was responsible for the layout.

Based on lessons learned from the pilot project, SINTER prepared the second edition with important improvements such as increasing the number of courses offered, the inclusion of courses outside Florianópolis campus and the classification of the courses into: i) specific courses of a knowledge area and ii) general courses with interdisciplinary proposals.

The Catalogue of Courses offered in Foreign Languages is currently undergoing restructuring due to the pandemic and soon we will publish a new edition, containing new information such as the addition of virtual courses. Stay tuned!

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) has adapted to the remote learning system and remote work in order to ensure the safety of the internal and external community. In addition to regular classes in the remote modality, several training courses were offered to the staff.

However, the actions taken went far beyond the sphere of teaching. Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers (faculty, technical and administrative staff and students) have developed and continue to develop several projects and actions to help in the fight against COVID-19. The actions cover various areas of knowledge and reinforce the importance of interdisciplinarity to solve and minimize problems.

According to the website Fighting the Covid-19 Pandemic at UFSC (https://coronavirus.ufsc.br), some of the important actions carried out at the university are: the mapping of the pandemic; genetic silencing of structural protein encoders of the SARS-CoV-2 virus; development of a diagnostic kit for Covid-19; mathematical models; care of health professionals; identification of fake news; patients in ICU; safety measures; development of APPs; non-pharmacological strategies for the containment of the new Coronavirus; identification of viruses and their mutations and dispersions; psychosocial impacts of the pandemic; among others. Recently, UFSC, in partnership with Florianópolis City Hall, has provided two fixed places of vaccination against COVID-19 since March 2021.

Currently, UFSC activities are organised into three phases, which depend on a set of epidemiological indicators. The update of this information and other information on which activities are authorised, can be consulted on the website https://coronavirus.ufsc.br/.

SOURCE: https://coronavirus.ufsc.br/numeros-da-ufsc-contra-o-coronavirus/

The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has opened a Call for Mobility for teachers from different countries, including Brazil, for a short period of activities at the UAB funded by the Erasmus+ program.

UFSC professors interested in applying should read the procedures on the program’s website, read the details of the Call for Applications, and apply directly to the UAB through a separate electronic form by the 15 June 2021.

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