UFSCar is a federal university with strong reputation in scientific research and technology education since 1968.
UFSCar, the Federal University of São Carlos, was created in 1968 as the first federal university in the state of São Paulo. It has about 14,000 students and 2,000 staff and works from campuses in São Carlos, Araras, Sorocaba and Lagoa do Sino. The main campus is on the Rodovia Washington Luís, on the edge of São Carlos, a city that calls itself the Brazilian capital of technology.
The claim has some basis. São Carlos hosts several campuses of the University of São Paulo, including its school of engineering and its institutes of physics and computing, as well as units of Embrapa and a large number of technology companies. UFSCar benefits from this density of researchers. Its Department of Materials Engineering is one of the best known in Brazil, and chemistry, physics, computer science and production engineering also have strong graduate programmes.
Research concentrates on biotechnology, engineering and computing, with joint projects with UNICAMP, USP and international centres. Technology parks in the city give start-ups space near the university, and students often move from undergraduate research into local companies or into graduate studies at one of the neighbouring institutions.
Tuition is free. Admission is through national exam results and the SiSU system, with places for public school graduates and quota groups. Courses are taught in Portuguese. As in other federal universities, meals in the university restaurant are subsidised, and low-income students can apply for housing and transport support.
São Carlos is a mid-sized city of about 250,000 people, roughly 230 km from São Paulo. Tens of thousands of students from the two big universities live there, so rents are affordable and the city has a young population. Bus lines link the main campus to the city centre and the railway station, and many students walk or cycle between classes, laboratories and the library. The calendar follows the Brazilian academic year, with two semesters, and most undergraduate degrees last four to five years depending on the field.
