Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's main infrastructure is the College City, located at and occupying almost all of Ilha do Fundão (Backyard Island), northern Rio de Janeiro. The island was artificially created in 1950 by the union of various already existing islands through
embankment techniques. Academic activities in the campus, however, would only start in 1970, and the initial project stated that all active courses would be transferred to the city. The campus has a residence complex for undergraduate students (504 rooms), three university restaurants (commonly called "bandejões", or "big trays"), a sports center, and banking agencies. In 2010, there was the opening of an integration station for the unified college transport system, aiming for more security and comfort to the college community. Dozens of 24/7 inter-campus bus lines, free for students, are connected to the College City, plus regular urban and intercity lines serving the population of Baixada Fluminense region and of metropolitan Rio de Janeiro. The campus at Praia Vermelha (Red Beach), locates at
Urca, southern Rio, concentrates on courses related mainly to
human sciences. Its largest and most historically notable building is the University Pallace, a
neoclassical-style premise built between 1842 and 1852 to serve as a
hospice, which was inaugurated by emperor
Dom Pedro II only ten years later. In 1949, the building was given to the University of Brazil, which then restored and expanded its facilities. In the downtown of Rio de Janeiro, one can find many isolated college units: the
College of Law Studies, at Conde dos Arcos Palace, former headquarter of Brazilian
senate; the School of Music, planted in the old National Library building since 1913; the Valongo Observatory at the top of "Morro da Conceição" (Conceição Hill); the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Institute of History, both situated in the old National School of Engineering building, at "Largo de São Francisco de Paula". In the
2010-2020 UFRJ Master Plan a project was set for conversion of the Praia Vermelha campus into a great cultural center, consequentially transferring almost all of the campus' academic activities, plus that of all of college units scattered throughout Rio, to the College City, thus redeeming the city's original intent of centering all university activities in Ilha do Fundão. The decision has generated strong polemic with both students and staff, given the great distances between southern (Praia Vermelha) and northern (Ilha do Fundão) Rio and the chaotic traffic that plagues the Red Line of João Goulart Freeway - the "jugular" connecting the College City to Rio. Aloísio Teixeira, then rector and strong advocate for the integration, argued that the University Palace can bear a circulation of no more than two to three thousand people per day, and that the College City's major problems are not on its structure, but on its access points which are more easily fixable matters. Aiming to solve part of the city's traffic problem, in mid-2010 Rio de Janeiro saw the building of its first cable-stayed bridge, named "
Ponte do Saber" (Knowledge Bridge), which was inaugurated in 2012 to receive a daily average of 25,000 vehicles.
Duque de Caxias Through its biophysics undergraduate course, started in the second half of 2008, UFRJ initiated activities in
Xerém, a region with large industrial and technological potential in the city of
Duque de Caxias. Aiming to cooperate with Inmetro (National Institute of Metrics, Normalization and Industrial Quality), the university forged a partnership with the government of Duque de Caxias and with the Foundation for Technological Development and Social Policies. Currently, and additionally to biophysics, the Xerém campus offers undergraduate courses in biotechnology and nanotechnology, both added in the first half of 2010. As of the following year, there was the addition of the professional
master's in Scientific Formation for Biology Teachers, targeted at professors of the
biosciences looking for skill improvement. Students have Inmetro's infrastructure and laboratories at hand, but most students and staff whose main laboratories are at Ilha do Fundão still have to complete their academic internships at College City. In an attempt to fix this inconvenience, Inmetro agreed to concede its Xerém infrastructures to UFRJ, which was then reinaugurated as a full campus in 2012.
Macaé , at northern Rio de Janeiro (state). UFRJ has operated in the city of
Macaé since the 1980s, when researchers from its Institute of Biology performed studies in the lakes of "Região dos Lagos" (literally, Lake Regions). In partnership with the city, it instituted the Macaé Nucleus for Ecological Researches (NUPEM) in 1994. The university's recognition in and importance to the city was so visible that, in 2012, the City Hall has donated to the institution a 29,000 m2 terrain, in which was raised a new university center. In 2005, NUPEM was officialized as a supplementary organ of the Center of Health Sciences and, in 2006, the university implemented its first course outside Rio de Janeiro, professor training in the biosciences, to be taken in NUPEM's headquarters. In 2007, Macaé inaugurated a full university complex with two buildings and seven more planned ones, for graduation, post-graduation and extension courses. During this solemnity there was also the signing of the "Protocolo de Intenções" (Intentions Protocol) between UFRJ and the city, promising the initiation of chemistry and pharmacy courses in 2008. Currently, the campus is physically distributed among four poles (University Pole, Barreto, Novo Cavaleiros and Ajuda), where the following undergraduate courses are offered: biological sciences, chemistry, nursing and obstetrics, engineering (production, civil and mechanical), pharmacy, medicine, and nutrition; as of post-graduation courses, there are two: environmental and conservation sciences, and bioactive and biosciences products. The main campus was named after former rector Aloísio Teixeira, incumbent from 2003 to 2011, in 2012 (
Campus UFRJ–Macaé Professor Aloísio Teixeira), honoring his decisive contribution to the spreading of UFRJ through the State of Rio de Janeiro.
E-learning poles highlighting the cities where UFRJ, either by its physical or e-learning courses, is active (in red).E-learning courses are offered by the CEDERJ (Rio de Janeiro Center of Higher-Education E-learning) consortium, signed between UFRJ and the following institutions:
Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO),
Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF),
Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ),
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ),
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF) and
Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca (CEFET/RJ). Taught in a mixed scheme where some activities require the students' physical presence, UFRJ offers professor training courses in the biosciences, physics, and chemistry. At the course's conclusion, a student is awarded with a certificate equivalent to that of physically based courses offered by the institution, according to each student's chosen e-learning pole. Admission are made by an independent "
vestibular" organized by the consortium. UFRJ's e-learning poles in the State of Rio de Janeiro are:
Angra dos Reis, Duque de Caxias,
Itaperuna, Macaé,
Nova Iguaçu,
Paracambi,
Piraí,
Rio de Janeiro,
São Gonçalo,
Três Rios, and
Volta Redonda. ==Academics==