Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba | |
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| Motto | Ide e ensinai |
|---|---|
Motto in English | Go and teach |
| Type | Private university |
| Established | 1975 (1975) |
Religious affiliation | Methodist Church in Brazil |
| Rector | Ismael Forte Valentin[1] |
| Location | ,, |
| Website | unimep |
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TheMethodist University of Piracicaba (Portuguese:Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba), also known asUnimep, is a Brazilianprivatehigher education institution located in thestate of São Paulo.
The university offers teaching, research, and outreach activities, in diverse knowledge areas. Unimep was founded in 1964 as a set of individually accredited faculties, and was granted university status in 1975, becoming the firstMethodist university inLatin America.[2] The institution is sponsored by Instituto Educacional Piracicabano (IEP) and concentrates its activities in a main campus located in Taquaral,Piracicaba, and inLins.[3]
In a 2016 report byInstituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira, aquasi-autonomous non-governmental organization under theMinistry of Education responsible for the quality assessment of higher education institutions in Brazil, Unimep obtained a general degree-course index (IGC, Índice Geral de Cursos, in Portuguese) of 2.6478 (on a 0-5 scale) and was graded at level 3 (on a 1-5 scale) as a result of the assessment of 40 degree courses.[4] In its 2016 assessment,Guia do Estudante, a Brazilian university guide, ranked Unimep as the second best private university of the interior of thestate of Sao Paulo, and 14th on the global ranking of the state.[5]
The history of Unimep dates back to 1881, when American missionaryMartha Watts founded in Piracicaba the first Methodist school of Brazil, Colégio Piracicabano.[6] In 1964, the school started to offer higher education courses in Economy, Administration and Accounting, referred as Integrated Faculties. With that expansion, in 1975, theMinistry of Education recognized Unimep as a university.[7]
In 1980, UNIMEP sponsored and hosted the 32nd congress of theNational Union of Students, and electedAldo Rebelo, linked to theCommunist Party of Brazil, as its president. The then rector of UNIMEP interceded personally before the minister of justice of the Brazilian government, at the time under amilitary dictatorship, to allow the student mobilization. The congress gathered 4,000 students inPiracicaba and allowed for the restructuring of theNational Union of Students.[8][circular reference]
Unimep is structured into degree courses focusing in the fields of health sciences, communication, humanities, law and business administration: physical education, nursing, physiotherapy, veterinary medicine, nutrition, odontology, cinema and audiovisual, psychology, law, administration, and logistics.[9]
Unimep has signed partnership agreements with universities in countries all around the world, such asGermany,Angola,Argentina,Belgium,Chile,Colombia,South Korea,Costa Rica,Cuba,Spain,United States,Finland,United Kingdom,Italy,Japan,Mexico,Mozambique,Paraguay,Portugal,Taiwan,Ukraine, andUruguay.[10] The university is also an active member of the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities (IAMSCU), whose presidency it has occupied on several occasions.[11]
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