Universidade de São Paulo | |
 Coat of arms of the University of São Paulo | |
Other name | USP |
|---|---|
| Motto | Scientia Vinces |
Motto in English | "Through knowledge you will conquer" |
| Type | Public university |
| Established | 25 January 1934; 91 years ago (1934-01-25)[a] |
| Budget | R$ 9.15 billion[2] |
| Rector | Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior |
Academic staff | 5,306[3] |
Administrative staff | 12,607[3] |
| Students | 97,325[1][needs update] |
| Undergraduates | 58,752[3] |
| Postgraduates | 29,487[3] |
| Location | São Paulo, Brazil 23°33′35″S46°43′45″W / 23.55972°S 46.72917°W /-23.55972; -46.72917 |
| Campus | Bauru,Lorena,Piracicaba,Pirassununga,Ribeirão Preto,Santos,São Carlos,São Paulo,São Sebastião |
| Colors | Primary blue, secondary blue and yellow |
| Website | usp.br |
 | |
 | |
TheUniversity of São Paulo (Portuguese:Universidade de São Paulo,USP) is apublicresearch university in theBrazilianstate ofSão Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil.
The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in the state of São Paulo, such as theLaw School, thePolytechnic School, and theCollege of Agriculture. The university's foundation in that year was marked by the creation of theFaculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Literature, and subsequently new departments. Currently, the university is involved in teaching, research, and university extension in all areas of knowledge, offering a broad range of courses. It has eleven campuses, four of them in thecity of São Paulo.[4] The remaining campuses are in the cities ofBauru,Lorena,Piracicaba,Pirassununga,Ribeirão Preto and two inSão Carlos.
University of São Paulo alumni and faculty include past or present 13Brazilian presidents, members of theNational Congress, and founders and executives of notable Brazilian companies. Regarding research, the USP is among Brazil's largest research institutions, producing more than 25% of the scientific papers published by Brazilian researchers in high-quality conferences and journals.[5]
%2c_Acervo_do_Museu_Paulista_da_USP.jpg)
After its defeat in theConstitutionalist Revolution,São Paulo needed institutional improvements. Therefore, in 1933, a group of businessmen founded theFree School of Sociology and Politics (ELSP) (the current Foundation of theSchool of Sociology and Politics in São Paulo). In 1934, the intervenor of São Paulo (which corresponded to the governor), Armando de Sales Oliveira, founded the University of São Paulo (USP).[6]
That was one of the efforts to provide Brazil with modern administrative, educational, and military institutions in a period known as "the search for alternatives." One of the main initiatives included the founding, that same year, of the University of São Paulo. Its nucleus was the School of Philosophy, Sciences, and Languages, with professors from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and other European countries. The ELSP (Escola Livre de Sociologia e Política) assumed the goal of administrative elites to form a new model in which they noted an increasing role of the state. At the same time, the USP (Universidade de São Paulo) focused on training teachers for secondary schools, experts in sciences, engineers, lawyers, physicians, and professors. The ELSP followed a sociological American model, while the USP used the French academic world as its primary source of inspiration.
Foreign professors such asClaude Lévi-Strauss (France),Fernand Braudel (France),Roger Bastide (France), Robert H. Aubreton (France), Heinrich Rheinboldt (Germany), Paul Arbousse Bastide (France), Jean Magüé (France),Martial Gueroult (France),Emilio Willems (Germany),Donald Pierson (US),Gleb Vassielievich Wataghin (Russia),Pierre Monbeig (France),Giacomo Albanese (Italy),Luigi Fantappiè (Italy),Vilém Flusser (Czech Republic),Giuseppe Ungaretti (Italy) andHerbert Baldus (Germany), broadcast in various institutions new standards for teaching and research, creating new generations of scientists inBrazil.
Since its foundation the USP received professors and researchers from all over the world, such asDavid Bohm (US),Giuseppe Occhialini (Italy),François Châtelet (France),Anatol Rosenfeld (Germany), Helmi Nasr (Egypt), Gérard Lebrun (France),Fritz Köberle (Austria),Alexander Grothendieck (France), and Heinz Dieter Heidemann (Germany).
.jpg)
The University of São Paulo is the result of a combination of the newly founded School of Philosophy, Sciences and Languages (Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras, FFCL, currently theFaculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, FFLCH)[7] with the existingPolytechnic School of Engineering (founded in 1893), the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz) (founded in 1901), the Medical School (founded in 1912), the traditionalLaw School (founded in 1827), the old School of Pharmacy and Dentistry (founded in 1898), the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (founded in 1886), and the School of Veterinary Medicine (founded in 1919).[8]
The FFCL emerged as the integrating element of the university, bringing together courses in various areas of knowledge. Also, in 1934, theSchool of Physical Education (sports science) of the State of São Paulo was created, the first civil school of physical education in Brazil, which would later be part of the university. In 1944, the Medical School opened its public hospital (Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo). The School of Engineering of Sao Carlos (EESC) emerged in the same year. In subsequent years, several other research units were also created, such as a second Medical School located in the city ofRibeirão Preto (São Paulo's inland) in 1952.[8]
In the 1960s, the university gradually transferred the headquarters of some of its units to theCity University Armando de Salles Oliveira, in São Paulo. In 1963, theHeart Institute of the University of São Paulo was founded. After that, new institutes and schools were created, for instance, theSchool of Journalism, Communications and Arts (ECA) in 1966. Over the years, some of the university's old departments were transformed into autonomous faculties or institutes, such as theInstitute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB), theInstitute of Geosciences (IGc), and theInstitute of Biosciences (IB) in 1969.[8]
During the 1970s and part of the 1980s, some critics believed that the USP underwent an intellectual dissection in terms of knowledge production and the quality of human resources. During the past decades, the university played an essential role in the discussion and dissemination of important political ideas that contributed to the democratization of the country, bringing together many leftist intellectuals (such asFlorestan Fernandes, Boris Fausto, Paul Singer,Antonio Candido,Gioconda Mussolini among others).
During theBrazilian dictatorship, a large number of professors from the USP were persecuted and even tortured – many were forced to leave the country.[9][10][11] This slowed down scientific production in Brazil.[12] It also promoted a systematic increase in the total number of graduate vacancies, encouraged by the state government.
The gap caused by the removal of teachers and students chased by themilitary regime was interrupted by the campaign of political amnesty in the early 1980s. Several units of the USP celebrated the return of their deposed professors, although many of them were rehired under different conditions (formerfull professors took new positions as assistant professors).[13]
Parallel to the resulting intellectual emptiness of political repression in the 1960s-80s, academic units were fragmented; new faculties and institutes were created, resulting in new courses, new lines of research, andgraduate programs. Originally conceived as the university's academic core – gathering itself the various fields of knowledge – the FFCL (School of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters) saw its departments gain autonomy and become separate units. TheInstitute of Physics was the first department to extricate itself from the old FFCL, followed by other natural science departments.
In 2004, the university founded theInstitute of International Relations to study global matters in a multidisciplinary environment (law, political science, economy, and history) with Brazilian and international students and professors (International Exchange Program).[14] In 2005, it was built in the East Zone of thecity of São Paulo a newSchool of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities (EACH), taking a few courses that go beyond the traditional Brazilian university model and aim to diversify the areas of the consolidated institution. [22] On 21 March 2006, the USP approved the merger of a secondSchool of Chemical Engineering (FAENQUIL) in the city of Lorena (rural area), at theParaíba Valley (State of São Paulo's rural area), with about 1,600 students in total and of these 1,200 at graduation. In 2007, a second Law School was established in the city ofRibeirão Preto, also in theState of São Paulo's countryside.[15]
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| ARWU World[16] | 101-150 (2022) |
| CWUR World[17] | 109 (2023) |
| CWTS World[18] | 12 (2023) |
| QS World[19] | 108 (2026) |
| THE World[20] | 201–250 (2023) |
| USNWR Global[21] | =120 (2022-23) |
Today, the USP has five hospitals and offers 247 undergraduate programs and 239 graduate programs in all areas of study.[22] The university houses altogether 24 museums and galleries – with half a million visitors a year – two theaters, a cinema, a TV channel and an orchestra.[22] The University of São Paulo welcomes people from all continents and stimulates this process via networks and consortiums (International Office – USP), such asErasmus Mundus, Associação das Universidades de Língua Portuguesa, and Rede Magalhães (SMILE – Student Mobility in Latin America, Caribbean and Europe), among others.[23]
According toARWU, the USP was classified in first place regarding the number of doctorates awarded during 2011.[24] USP is ranked among the top 70 universities in the world, in the Ranking "Top Universities by Reputation 2013" published byTimes Higher Education.[25] According to the 2013Academic Ranking of World Universities, the USP is placed in the group of the 101–151 top world universities.[26] According to the 2020CWTS Leiden Ranking, the University of São Paulo is ranked 7th in the world.[27] In the 2024QS World University Rankings,[28] the University of São Paulo ranked 85th in the world and is ranked 1st in Latin America.[29] As of 2021, the University of São Paulo is the first Latin American institution in theTimes Higher Education World University Rankings to be ranked at 201-250th.[30]
The USP operates four hospitals, among themUniversity of São Paulo Medical School Public Hospital, the largest hospital complex in Latin America and the major teaching and training site for the university's Faculty of Medicine,[31] which is highly ranked withinLatin America.[32] All of them are:
The USP has 42 libraries managed by the Integrated Library System (SIB – Sistema Integrado de Bibliotecas in Portuguese), which is also responsible for the university's online system, DEDALUS.
Dedalus is an online database that allows simultaneous consultation in all university libraries. It is also integrated into a system named Integrated Research, which integrates all online databases signed by the university. This makes academic research faster and provides researchers with easy access to international publications.[citation needed]
The University of São Paulo manages a rich set of museums andart galleries, most of them located on the central campus in the city of São Paulo:
.jpg)
Brazilian students take the USP's entrance exam, thevestibular, which is prepared and administered byFUVEST (University Foundation for Vestibular), subject to regulations approved by the university's Undergraduate Studies Council. In 2012, 159,603 students signed up for Fuvest's vestibular for 10,982 openings. Candidates must take a multiple-choice test involving chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, geography, history, Portuguese, and English. The second round of tests is written and specific to the chosen field of studies, including more in-depth questions in physics, chemistry, and mathematics for engineering; history, math, and geography for law; and so on. In-depth written Portuguese questions are required for all.
More recently, students have also been able to access the university by taking the nationwide high school evaluation test, ENEM, through theUnified Selection System (SISU). Each undergraduate course manages the vacancies available for each admission process.
International students may come through several exchange programs. In 2012, the USP hosted over 2,300 exchange students. Roughly a third of the international students are enrolled in humanities and social sciences, with another third in engineering courses.[33]
The USP does not require its students, national or foreign, to pay any tuition, as its source of funding comes from the state of São Paulo.
The USP corresponds to the idea of "university" as a set of autonomous schools, institutes, and colleges, each responsible for one area of knowledge (the aforementioned thirty-six teaching, research, and extension). Like most Brazilian universities, it grants autonomy to its teaching, research, and extension units regarding the didactic organization and curricular definition of each of the courses, which often results in a considered excessive fragmentation of teaching and research and the disconnection between the knowledge produced in each of the units.
Each unit is divided into departments. A department is usually responsible for one of the courses offered by the unit or for a specific search line. In the case of units with only one or two courses, departments are not responsible for the entire course but for a part of it. Due to the aforementioned fragmentation and decentralization of the university, it is common to see departments with similar profiles in different units, which raises criticism as to the effectiveness of public investments and duplication of efforts.
The administrative structure of the USP has in theRectory its central organ, as well as in theRector the main figure of the university. Subordinated to the Rectory are the four Pro-Rectorates, specialized agencies in each of the university's fields of activity:Pro-Rectorate (PRG),Post-Graduation Pro-Rectorate (PRPG),Pro-Rectory of Research (PRP) andPro-Rectory of Culture and Extension (PRC).
In recent years, there has been discussion about creating aPro-Rectorate for Student Assistance, a subject that, according to critics, has always been considered secondary to the university's leaders.
(in English)
