Rector and vice-rector of Ufes present Management Report 2020-2024

“It was a beautiful experience, now there is the possibility of continuity.” The statement was made by the rector of Ufes, Paulo Vargas, at the presentation event of the Management Report 2020-2024, held on the afternoon of this Tuesday, 19th, in the auditorium of the Central Library. The event brought together pro-rectors, directors of teaching centers, superintendents, the elected rector and vice-rector, Eustáquio de Castro and Sônia Lopes, respectively, among other members of the university community.

Click here and watch the launch.

The report, detailed by the vice-rector of Ufes, Roney Pignaton, provides an overview of the period marked by the biggest health crisis of this century and all the challenges in maintaining teaching during social isolation. For the rector, the challenge of taking command of the University in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 was enormous. It had only been a few days since the University had entered into a remote working process when the new management took over.

At that time, one of the first actions was the creation of the Emergency Operative Committee to produce the biosafety plan, with the function of monitoring the epidemiological evolution of the disease, discussing proposals to mitigate its spread and collaborating with official health bodies to prevent mitigation of covid-19. Research, extension and teaching were put at the service of the population in combating the spread of the new coronavirus.

Another hallmark of this period was the launch of the Temporary and Emergency Remote Learning Teaching (Earte) program, which allowed classes to continue even in social isolation. To ensure that all students had access to classes, new aid was created to provide equipment and internet that benefited 5,105 students, ensuring a process of inclusion and digital accessibility.

“We are facing one of the most turbulent periods in our history, with the health crisis and political conditions unfavorable to universities during most of this administration. But, even in the midst of the challenges that were imposed, Ufes showed that it was capable of reinventing itself and building possible and necessary solutions”, highlighted the dean and vice-rector in the text presenting the report.

Chapters

Divided into chapters, the report provides information on what was accomplished in the areas of undergraduate, distance learning, research and postgraduate studies, innovation, extension, internationalization, student assistance, infrastructure, affirmative actions and accessibility, people development, communication, culture and institutional planning. It also addresses actions developed at the University Hospital and the Ufes Institute of Dentistry, in the libraries and the Ombudsman’s Office, in addition to recovering the history of the succession at Ufes in 2020 and the actions of the Superior Councils.

With regard to administrative management, the report highlights that in the last four years, even with budget cuts imposed by the federal government, Ufes managed, with a cost reduction policy, to invest in all its campuses, delivering more than 150 improvements in buildings, new constructions and structural and transversal works, reaching very significant investment values. In 2020, the University made investments of around R$29,700,278.03; in 2021 it was R$27,463,519.27; in 2022 R$ 27,076,274.05 and in 2023 21,447,785.49.

Advances

Advances in postgraduate studies are also highlighted in the report. Between 2020 and 2023, over 4,420 masters, doctors and specialists were graduated. In the evaluation carried out by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes), 28 postgraduate programs had their grades raised and, for the first time in the history of Ufes, three postgraduate programs achieved a grade of 6: Education, Politics Social and Biotechnology.

In terms of Research and Innovation, Ufes has also evolved, with almost 8 thousand research projects developed, on average, per year in all areas of knowledge. The University’s researchers are among the most productive in Latin America.

This reality makes Ufes among the main universities in national and international rankings. In the Folha University Ranking (RUF), from the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, which evaluates higher education institutions, the University reached its peak in 2023, positioning itself among the ten best universities in Brazil in terms of innovation.

In the Internationalization item, Ufes increased the number of countries with which it maintains cooperation agreements from 34 to 45, closing the management with 162 active international agreements.

Over the last four years, investments in the Student Assistance Program (Proaes-Ufes) totaled R$58,582,250.93. During the 2020-2024 administration, the queue of students waiting to enter the program was cleared, an action that resulted from measures that promoted better use of available resources, such as the re-registration that took place in 2021, which made it possible to review registrations from 2014 to 2017 and eliminate inconsistencies. Ufes also promoted the unification of aid intended for students, which was previously segmented by purpose.

Rough sea

At the end of the report presentation event, the former rector of Ufes, Reinaldo Centoducatte (2011-2012 administration – pro tempore, 2013-2016 and 2017-2020), addressed rector Paulo Vargas and vice-rector Roney Pignaton and stated: “If we take ourselves back four years, what would we imagine about the future possibilities? Let the University lose as little as possible, because the horizon showed a rough sea and an immense difficulty in navigating that sea. You had the ability to understand that moment and deliver a university that was much better than the one you received.” He also mentioned that, considering only the core activities of the University – teaching, research and extension -, the 2020-2024 management placed Ufes “in a higher reference” compared to four years ago.

New portal

During the presentation of the report, Ufes’ Communications superintendent, Ruth Reis (photo), also presented the new Ufes Portal, which should be launched next Friday, 22nd. With a more modern look and focusing on images, the portal will be delivered in stages. In this first phase, the news will be in the new format. Subsequently, all Ufes units will migrate their content to the new platform.

Text and photos: Sueli de Freitas
Editing: Thereza Marinho