The history of the Federal University of Santa Catarina has its roots in the Polytechnic Institute of Florianópolis founded on March 13 of 1917 by José Arthur Boiteux. Organized as a free institute, it was the first college degree institution of Santa Catarina state. On February 11, 1932 the Law School was incorporated, officially in 1935. That triggered a movement to start the first state university and on December 18, of 1960 it became the University of Santa Catarina, offering the courses of Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Philosophy, Economics, Social Service and the School of Industrial Engineering. On July 15, 1968, as an effort of Brazilian government to improve college education in Brazil with education reform, the major universities in Brazil were reorganized in Schools and Departments and acquired a new education structure, more resembling the American and English methodology. Since then the university became the Federal University of Santa Catarina. In 1961 the institution has earned a new place in the city to build its structure, located in the region of Trindade near downtown Florianópolis. The area was previously occupied by a model farm called Assis-Brasil and is located near the coast, having several streams crossing the actual campus. The moving was finished in 1980. A young university, the Federal University of Santa Catarina continues to grow. During the 1980s, it began to invest heavily in the expansion of graduate programs and research, besides supporting the creation of technology centers in the state of Santa Catarina and the development of a number of outreach projects for the community. Today, UFSC has four other campuses distributed in the cities of Araranguá, Blumenau, Curitibanos and Joinville.
Admissions
The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina undergraduate admission process is almost similar to all others in Brazil, using a process called vestibular. It is comprised by several written tests usually performed in 2–3 days. The competition is fierce and the percentage of successful applicants is usually lower than 15%. In 2007 the institution approved the Affirmative Action quota system proposed by the Ministry of Education in early Luis Inácio Lula da Silva government, which now reserves 50% of the spots for incoming students available to students coming from public schools and racial minorities. The admission process for graduate school is more complex and usually involves a test and a recommendation from the previous college. People interested in graduate degrees at UFSC should contact the department of the intended program directly. The Brazilian Ministry of Education, through CAPES evaluates graduate programs in Brazil every three years, ranking them from 1 to 7, being 6 excellence and 7 international excellence level. The following graduate programs at UFSC have received grades 6 or 7, as per the last CAPES evaluation :
