Secretaria de Relações Internacionais | Office of International Relations

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.

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.

Members of “Great SINTER” and other participants in the PDI 2025-2029 public hearing.

On 4 September, the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) took another important step in preparing its Institutional Development Plan (PDI) for the period 2025-2029. The Office of International Relations (SINTER) promoted a public hearing to discuss the strategic institutional objectives related to the internationalization of UFSC.

The hearing took place in the School of Philosophy and Human Sciences (CFH) Building F Auditorium and was attended by members of “great SINTER”, including UFSC internationalization agents, members of the “SINTEGRA: International Student Trajectories: support and Integration” project; participants of the Institute for Studies on China (ICHIN), and members of the international community at UFSC, totaling an audience of nearly 25 people, in addition to those watching the online streaming.

The event highlighted the importance of collaboratively defining strategic objectives for internationalization, gathering valuable input from students, staff, faculty, and external stakeholders. Throughout September, SINTER’s executive technical group will synthesize the contributions collected during the hearing, which will then be forwarded to the management group. The next phase will involve defining strategic actions and key indicators for internationalization.
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This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.