São Paulo State University Explained

São Paulo State University should not be confused with University of São Paulo.

São Paulo State University
Native Name:Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Native Name Lang:Pt
Other Name:Unesp
Established:1976
Type:Public university system
Rector:Pasqual Barretti (2021-2025) [1]
State:São Paulo
Country:Brazil
Coordinates:-22.8172°N -47.0694°W
Budget:R$1.496 billion[2]
Students:47,917
Undergrad:35,284
Postgrad:12,633
Academic Staff:3,316
Administrative Staff:7,138
Affiliations:Compostela Group of Universities
Website:unesp.br
City:Araçatuba, Araraquara, Assis, Bauru, Botucatu, Dracena, Franca, Guaratinguetá, Ilha Solteira, Itapeva, Jaboticabal, Marília, Ourinhos, Presidente Prudente, Registro, Rio Claro, Rosana, São João da Boa Vista, São José do Rio Preto, São José dos Campos, São Paulo, São Vicente, Sorocaba and Tupã

São Paulo State University (Unesp, Portuguese: Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho") is a public university run by the state government of São Paulo, Brazil.

Unesp has a combined student body of over 45,000 spread among its 23 campuses. The first of them is the Araraquara Pharmacy and Odontology Faculty, founded in 1923 and incorporated by the state of São Paulo in 1956. Before the university’s official foundation in 1976, its original 12 campuses were public independent faculties.

With a budget of R$2.6 billion in 2015, UNESP currently has 33 teaching, research, and extension units in 23 campuses spread across inland and coastal cities, as well as in the city of São Paulo. It also has 30 libraries, two hospitals, three animal hospitals, five farms, and seven complementary units.[3]

São Paulo State University is considered the sixth most important university in Brazil, according to the Ranking Universitário Folha, one of the most recognized local rankings.[4] According to the QS World University Ranking, Unesp is the fifth most important university in Brazil, 11th in Latin America, 29th in BRICS, and 482nd in the world.[5] [6] It is the only Brazilian member of the Compostela Group of Universities.[7] It is one of the few Latin American universities to be constantly listed as one of the best universities worldwide.

History

Universities in Brazil are a recent phenomenon, compared to other Latin American countries. The first one was created in 1808 (Rio de Janeiro Medicine Faculty). Before the 20th century, there were no universities in the country. Existing institutions in higher education were either public or church-run independent institutes. Rio de Janeiro Federal University was the first one, containing every faculty inside Rio de Janeiro city in 1926.

São Paulo’s first university was USP, founded in 1933. By the 1950s, countryside people had to move toward capitals for undergraduate study. There were few higher education institutes outside Brazilian metropolises then. São Paulo state government created many colleges outside the capital in the 1950s and 1960s. Prominent cities in the state received these isolated institutes, known as “Faculdade de Filosofia”. In the 1970s, discussions were made within state government on how to coordinate the separate institutes. One Suggestions was to join the 14 institutes in a federation or a single university, which was enacted on subsequently.

Inspired by the University of California multi-campus system, Unesp was founded in 1976. The original campuses were in Araçatuba, Araraquara, Assis, Botucatu, Franca, Guaratinguetá, Ilha Solteira, Jaboticabal, Marília, Presidente Prudente, Rio Claro, São José dos Campos, São José do Rio Preto and São Paulo. Bauru campus was incorporated in 1988.

The name "Universidade Estadual Paulista" was suggested by the first rector of Unesp, Professor Luiz Ferreira Martins. The homage to (a journalist) was suggested by Prof. Dr. Moacyr Expedito Marret Vaz Guimarães, then President of the State Council of Education (EEC).[8]

Unesp is one of the six public higher education institutions in the state of São Paulo. The others are USP, UNICAMP, UNIFESP, UFABC, UFSCar and FATEC).

Facilities

UNESP has a total of 1,900 laboratories and 30 libraries, which together have around 900,000 books available.[9]

In addition the facilities encompass museums, gardens, parks, botanical gardens and five experimental farms, totaling an area of 62.8 million m2, of which 745,400 m2 are developed area.

The university also owns the Hospital de Clínicas de Botucatu and manages the State Hospital of Bauru, which together have around 800 beds, as well as veterinary hospitals and dentistry, psychology, speech therapy and physiotherapy clinics.[10]

Campuses

São Paulo State University has 23 campuses and 33 institutes:[11]

Complementary units

Organization and administration

Unesp is governed by a rector, appointed by the state governor who chooses the final candidate from a list of three nominees. The nominees are selected through elections, taking place among university’s academics held every four years. Usually, the governor selects the winner of those elections.

The rector presides over the University Council, composed of directors of every institute in the system and academic representatives. There are ten students representatives. The council makes most decisions that affect the university.

Each institute (there are campuses with more than one) has one director and a council who rules with a degree of autonomy.

Unesp rectors

Academics

Unesp employs about 3,500 teachers, in addition to another 10,600 employees in various positions. The university provides 171 options for undergraduate courses in 62 higher education professions, with a total of over 45,000 students, of which 5,600 new professionals are trained annually by Unesp. About 10,000 students study in 118 postgraduate programs, with 117 academic masters, 6 professional masters and 93 academic doctorates.

The academic year at Unesp follows a two-semester schedule, with slight differences depending on the courses and programs chosen. The spring semester runs from August - December and the fall semester from February - June.[13]

In the recent decade Brazil has generally become more widely recognized as a good academic environment (developing alongside the rest of the countries economy).[14] But with the economic crisis some universities in Brazil have struggled in the last years; the number of publications authored and co-authored from UNESP however, has continually risen since 2012.[15]

Admissions

Admissions to Unesp are restricted by a state-wide, general admissions exam, known as vestibular. For architecture, arts and design undergraduate courses, additional specific exams are required.

Prepared by VUNESP, an institution specialized in exams organization, Unesp vestibular are held on three days, separated in two phases.

  1. The first phase consists of 90 questions in the following disciplines: philosophy, Portuguese, mathematics, chemistry, biology, geography, history, physics and English or Spanish.
  2. The second phase of exams, separated in two days, is made up of specific questions in Humane and Natural Sciences on the first day. The second day of the second phase consists of specific questions in Languages (Portuguese and English or Spanish) and a writing exam.[16]

A student can only apply for a single course in the São Paulo State University system, preventing a simultaneous application for e.g. History and Geography.

Exchange programmes

Unesp has 140 international exchange and cooperation agreements with institutions of higher education in 52 countries. The main exchange countries for Unesp are currently Argentina, Canada, China, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Russia, the United States and Scotland.[17] [18]

To further support international students the university launched a program called "International Courses" in 2013. The program comprised four different areas initially: Agricultural Sciences, Alternative Energy, Dentistry and Literature and Linguistics.[19]

Rankings and reputation

The Young:151-200
The Young Year:2018
The Young Ref:[20]
The Emerging:161
The Emerging Ref:[21]
The N:4
The N Year:2018
The N Ref:[22]
The Latam:11
The Latam Year:2018
The Latam Ref:[23]
Qs Latam:10
Qs Latam Year:2018
Qs Latam Ref:[24]
Arwu W:301–400
Arwu W Year:2023
Arwu W Ref:[25]
Qs W:=419
Qs W Year:2024
Qs W Ref:[26]
The W:601–800
The W Year:2024
The W Ref:[27]
Usnwr W:=497
Usnwr W Year:2023
Usnwr W Ref:[28]

In 2012, Unesp ranked second among public universities in the "VIII Best Universities Award", annually presented by the student publication guide, Editora Abril.[29]

In 2013, the UK publication Times Higher Education (THE) pointed to Unesp, alongside Unicamp, as one of the World's Top 100 "Young" Universities (under 50 years old)[30] and as the 11th best university in emerging countries.[31]

QS World University Rankings ranked the University of São Paulo as the 9th best in Latin America (2014),[32] the 34th best in BRICS, the 4th best in Brazil, and within the 491-500th best universities worldwide in 2018.[33]

The Academic Classification of World Universities (ARWU) of 2017 ranked Unesp in the 301st-400th group of the best universities in the world and as the third best institution of higher education in Brazil.[34]

The institution was also ranked as the 8th best university in Latin America, the 4th in Brazil and the 408th in the world by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities in 2017.[35]

Unesp ranked in the 151-200th group of the Young University Rankings 2018 and in the 601-800th group of the World University Rankings 2018 by THE.[36]

Research

Research an Unesp is centrally organized by the Research Vice-President's office (PROPe).[37] The university currently has its main research focus in the areas of Bioenergy, Biotechnology, Climate Change, Nanotechnology, Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, Pre-Clinical and Clinical development, Public Policy, Sea Sciences and Stem Cell research.[11]

In 2010, UNESCO, an agency of the United Nations (UN), named Unesp as the 2nd university in Brazil in numbers of scientific articles of international level, being responsible for 8% of the national scientific production, alongside UNICAMP and second to USP.[38]

Noted people

See also: List of São Paulo State University people.

Alumni

Notable alumni of Unesp include (Unesp degree in brackets):

Faculty members

Notable faculty members of Unesp include:

Miscellaneous

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Unesp: Reitoria - Portal da Universidade. unesp.br. 6 September 2018.
  2. Web site: Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP . 30 October 2010.
  3. Web site: Presentation about UNESP.
  4. Web site: Ranking Universitário Folha 2019. uol.com.br. 15 January 2020.
  5. Web site: Unesp: Rankings, Fees & Courses Details.
  6. Web site: QS Ranking 2020.
  7. Web site: CGU Members. www2.usc.es. 2018-09-06.
  8. Web site: UNESP: Câmpus de São José dos Campos - Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia. www.ict.unesp.br. 2018-08-09.
  9. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  10. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  11. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  12. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  13. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  14. 2012-09-12. Spotlight on Latin America. Nature Jobs. 10.1038/nj0389. 1476-4687. free.
  15. Web site: Brazil's subsumed science sector struggles to stay afloat. www.natureindex.com. 28 June 2016 . 2018-08-15.
  16. News: Rio Journal; For Brazil's College-Bound, a Brutal Test of Mettle. Rohter. Larry. The New York Times . 29 December 2000 . 2018-08-09.
  17. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  18. Web site: Career guide UNESP - International Exchange.
  19. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  20. Web site: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). 23 November 2021.
  21. Web site: World University Rankings. 18 August 2017.
  22. Web site: Best universities in Brazil 2022. 23 September 2021.
  23. Web site: Latin America Rankings. 18 July 2018.
  24. Web site: QS Latin American University Rankings 2018.
  25. Web site: Academic Ranking of World Universities 2023. shanghairanking.com. 24 February 2023.
  26. Web site: QS World University Rankings: University of Sfax. 29 June 2023. Top Universities. 29 June 2023.
  27. Web site: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). 28 September 2023. Times Higher Education (THE). 28 September 2023.
  28. Web site: Universidade Estadual Paulista. U.S. News. 27 February 2024.
  29. News: GE divulga as melhores universidades do Brasil em 2012. Guia do Estudante. 2018-08-09. pt-BR.
  30. Web site: The Top 100 Universities under 50. Times Higher Education.
  31. News: Brasil tem 4 universidades entre as melhores dos países emergentes. revistaepoca.globo.com. 2018-08-09. pt-br.
  32. News: UNESP. 2015-07-16. Top Universities. 2018-08-09.
  33. News: QS World University Rankings 2018. 2017-02-01. Top Universities. 2018-08-09.
  34. Web site: ARWU World University Rankings 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017 Top 500 universities Shanghai Ranking - 2017. www.shanghairanking.com. 2018-08-09.
  35. Web site: Latin America Ranking Web of Universities. www.webometrics.info. 2018-08-09.
  36. Web site: São Paulo State University (Unesp). Times Higher Education (THE). 2018-08-15.
  37. Web site: Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Portal. www2.unesp.br. 2018-08-15.
  38. Web site: Unesco aponta Unesp em segundo lugar no Brasil em produção científica. www.planetauniversitario.com. pt-br. 2018-08-09.