Winner. University of the Year 2021

State University of Campinas

Type: Public
Established: 1966

Rector: Prof. Dr. Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles
Academic staff: 1910
Administrative staff: 8178
Students: 40362
Address: Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz - Barão Geraldo, Campinas - SP, 13083-970, Brazil
Website: www.unicamp.br

Established in 1966, the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), a public university of São Paulo State, focuses on high-quality teaching and research, services society and bridges academia and industry, supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.

An essential element of Unicamp’s pedagogical and social mission is the initiatives aimed at bringing the institution closer to the community of which it is a part, are the responsibility of Proec (Office of the Vice-President for Extension Outreach and Culture). The office is responsible for Unicamp’s social commitment, such as receiving and stimulating proposals for university outreach activities and implementing these with the joint efforts of technical, administrative, and operational staff using the institution’s own funds or funds obtained from partnerships with other teaching institutions, institutional funding agencies, non-governmental organizations, public or private companies.

The initiatives developed by Proec, which take a variety of forms, including programs, events, publications, technological, educational, cultural, and social products, and the provision of services, promote the development of physical, cultural, and social well-being. They foster and guarantee democratic values and equal rights and participation and ensure respect for the individual and for sustainable environmental actions. Furthermore, all outreach activities are inseparably joined by teaching and research.

These guidelines are reflected in the initiatives supported by Proec in recent years, which have included popular culture; the history and memory of social movements; restoration of citizenship to street dwellers and indigenous people; social inclusion of individuals with special physical needs; socio-environmental education; sustainable agriculture; socially responsible economics; and the appreciation of culture as a tool for promoting health and well-being.

Even in the area of technological extension, PREAC attaches great importance to the social relevance of extension activities, as reflected in its involvement in the development and evaluation of important drugs for neglected diseases, such as Malaria or Chaga’s disease.

Initiatives of this nature also serve to underline the academic excellence of Unicamp, which is attested to by the presence of major public and private companies and agencies, both Brazilian and international, as partners and funding entities in many of the initiatives. These organizations entrust Unicamp with a leading role in the development of their scientific, technological and innovative projects and in the preparation of professionals for the job market.

Proec also works to give a human dimension to the institution’s own spaces by means of programs such as the Espaço Cultural Casa do Lago, which consists of yearly cultural, educational, and artistic events attended by around ninety thousand people. There is also a Department for the Coordination of Cultural Development which promotes and stages cultural and artistic exhibitions, both within as well as outside the university’s campus.

Proec’s activities are not limited to Unicamp’s own facilities but also take place outside its borders, in, for example, the Cultural Center for Social Inclusion and Integration (CIS-Guanabara), which is housed in an old railroad station and is today considered one of the largest and most representative items of historical and cultural heritage in the city of Campinas.

It is with initiatives such as these that Proec makes Unicamp’s mission as an institution of promoting social development a reality and prepares students, faculty, and employees of the university to disseminate the knowledge generated at Unicamp in the fields of biological and biomedical sciences, technological sciences, exact sciences, and the humanities. During this process, Proec always seeks to make such knowledge an agent for the development of policies that, by fighting exclusion and promoting citizenship, can help overcome problems and realize society’s aspirations and needs.

Even in a recent university context, in which the oldest Brazilian university is just over seven decades old, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) can be considered a young institution that has already conquered a strong tradition in teaching, research and relations with society.

Unicamp is responsible for around 15% of Brazilian research. It also produces more patents than any other research organization in Brazil. Multiple international university rankings place it among the best universities in the world, and in 2015 it was rated as the best university in the country by Brazil's Ministry of Education.

Unicamp is recognized as:
• One of the three best universities in Latin America
• One of the top 100 universities in emerging economies
• Top Brazilian university in number of patents
• The best in the country in the areas of Computer Science and Engineering and Technology for two consecutive years (2018-2019)
• 2nd place in the ranking of the most entrepreneurial universities in Brazil according to Confederation of Junior Enterprises (Brazil)
• 4th place among the most sustainable universities in Brazil and among the 100 most sustainable in the world, in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, from Universitas Indonesia
• 45% of our graduate courses are top grades (according to CAPES/MEC - (grades 6 and 7, on a scale of 3 to 7))
• The best placed of Latin America in The Golden Age University Rankings 2019 [universities in the golden age, founded after the Second World War).