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Federal University of Minas Gerais — news, coverage & facts — IJR

History

The origins of the university go back to the 19th century, when it first appeared in the Republic as a continuation of a process that began during the Empire, with the opening of the first institutions of higher education.

In 1898, the Ouro Preto Faculty of Law was transferred to Belo Horizonte, which at the time was set to be the new state capital.

A few new unconnected faculties would be founded later: in 1907, the Free School of Dentistry; in 1911, the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and a course in pharmacy attached to the Free School of Dentistry.

In 1927, these four schools merged to found University of Minas Gerais (UMG), a private institution subsidized by the state government. This is the mark of the foundation of the university.

The UMG remained funded by Minas Gerais government until 1949, when funding had been delegated to the Brazilian Government, though, the name UFMG (including Federal) was not adopted until 1965.

In the 1940s, a large area in the Pampulha region became the site for the construction of University City. The first structures erected were the Institute of Mechanics (now the Vocational School) and the Main Building. The effective occupation of the campus by the university community started only in the 1960s, when the construction of the buildings that today house most of the academic units was started.

At the time of federalization, the schools of architecture, philosophy and economics were already integrated in the university. As its expansion carried on, the school of nursing (1950), veterinary science (1961), information science (1962), music (1962) and physical education (1969) were founded.

In 1968, a university reform altered profoundly the structure of UFMG. The College of Philosophy spawned multiple institutions: the College of Philosophy and Human Sciences, the Institute of Biological Sciences, the Institute of Exact Sciences, the Institute of Geosciences and the Colleges of Literature and Education.

Additional courses have been established, among them agronomy, archival science, theater, museology, control engineering, computational mathematics, and speech therapy/audiology.

In 2025 UFMG has 32 areas of knowledge including the global ranking QS 2025.

Schools

The UFMG School of Architecture is in the central region of Belo Horizonte, more precisely at the intersection of Gonçalves Dias and Paraíba streets in the Savassi region. Founded in 1939, UFMG School of Architecture was the first course of architecture in Brazil released from engineering or fine arts. The building was designed by architect Shakespeare Gomes, one of the most representative works of modernism in Belo Horizonte. Currently, the school has the architecture courses (Day), Architecture (Night) and Design (Night).

The School of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts or Belas Artes) of the Federal University of Minas Gerais is an institution located within the Pampulha campus of the university. It hosts undergraduate courses in visual and performing arts, including animation and digital arts, as well as post-graduate courses in Art.

The School of Information Science (ECI) is an institution of the UFMG. Its foundation date of 25 March 1950 and its incorporation into the Federal University of Minas Gerais took place in 1963. The ECI is dedicated to the training of people dealing with information science. The School currently offers undergraduate courses in Library, Archival and Museology. The building has one of the most peculiar architectures between units of UFMG. The various palm trees in the central part, the hanging gardens over the four floors, balconies and floor details create an interesting aesthetic effect.

Formerly located at the Conservatory building (now Conservatório UFMG) in the center of the city, it migrated to Pampulha in the early 1990s. It teaches musical performance (classical and popular), composition, conducting, music education and music therapy. It comprises the departments of Instruments & Voice (INC Instrumentos e Canto) and Music Theory (TGM Teoria Geral da Música). The school has a library, two recording studios, two sonology laboratories ans an annexe for teaching music to young children.

The School of Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais is an institution located within the Pampulha campus of the university. It is taught the course of physical education, physical therapy and occupational therapy.

The UFMG School of Nursing was established on 7 July 1933. It currently holds a prominent position on the national scene for its undergraduate courses and Graduate Studies, and its research and extension projects. Currently, the School of Nursing is organized by the Departments of Applied Nursing (ENA), Basic Nursing (ENB) and Maternal Child Nursing and Public Health (EMI). Undergraduate courses in Nursing, Nutrition Course and System Analysis Course and health services are offered.

This unit is special in the scope of the university in the sense it is not concerned with higher education, undergraduate or graduate courses. It is the unit responsible for the teaching of basic education, i.e. education prior to higher education. The UFMG has a kindergarten school, a primary elementary school, a middle school, and several high school courses, either academic or professional. Usually, the teachers of these levels of education at these UFMG schools are students of the UFMG Faculty of Education pursuing their practices, but these facilities also have permanent faculty members who are actually administered by the same regulations as any other lecturer of professor. This academic unit, the School of Professional and Basic Education, is responsible for the administration of these teaching activities and the permanent members are hired by this school.

The School of Engineering hosts 13 faculty departments (Structures, Materials and Construction, Mining, Industrial Production, Transportation and Geotechnical, Electrical, Electronic, Hydric Resources and Hydraulic, Mechanical, Metallurgical, Nuclear, Chemical, and Sanitary and Environmental Engineering departments), 11 undergraduate engineer degree-awarding courses, and 10 post-graduate master's and doctorate title-awarding programs, held in a 13 pavilions (among classroom buildings, research buildings, libraries, and one-lab buildings for nuclear and fuel-combustion research) facilities complex.

The UFMG Veterinary Medicine School is one of the best in Brasil, encompassing two undergraduate courses (Acquaculture and Veterinary Medicine and Surgery), several departments, several post-graduate programs, and many research labs. Its facilities encompass several pavilions of buildings and a many-wings Veterinary Medicine Hospital that receives all types of animals for treatments from zoos and institutions of many different parts of Brazil.

Faculties

The Faculty of Philosophy and Human Sciences (FAFICH) has seven departments, namely: Psychology, Philosophy, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, History, and Media and Communication. Out of its nearly 250 faculty members, 95% have doctoral degrees and are doing research. Among several laboratories on Social and Behavioural research fields, FAFICH has 6 laboratories of high research output focusing specifically on cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and behaviour analysis. This academic unit is one of the founding, core units of the collegiate-like University of Minas Gerais, and has a privileged spot at the UFMG as having graduated notable people.

The undergraduate titles awarded by FAFICH can be of three types: bachelor's degrees (research-based), licenciate degrees (teaching-based), or, in the particular case of Psychology, as a Health Science whose title allows for a license to practice the profession of psychologist, the legislation that regulates this title, under the National Health Sciences Committee (in Portuguese, Conselho Nacional de Saúde, or CNS), requires the degree to be called the profession, so for the graduates of the 5-year theoretico-practical undergraduate course of psychology, the degree awarded by FAFICH and the university is a title of Psychologist, styled after the regulations of the CNS, like other Health licensed professions.

The Department of Psychology of the faculty is the largest and has the strongest research output, along with the Department of Political Science. The Department of Anthropology is one of the first in Brazil and hosts an undergraduate course of its own and a post-graduate program of its own, producing research in the avant-garde of the field in the world.

The Faculty of Law and State Sciences is located on a campus of its own at the center of Belo Horizonte downtown, a two-tower, 16-floor facility of prize-winning architecture, at the corner of Guajajaras street with Álvares Cabral Avenue. Its faculty is hosted by 4 departments: Public Law, Labour Law and Law Theory, Law and Criminal Procedure, and Civil and Commercial Law and Procedure. It awards two undergraduate titles: bachelor's degree in law, and bachelor's degree in state sciences. It also hosts a postgraduate program in law, awarding the titles of master's and doctorate in law.

The faculty members are clustered into 12 departments: Pathological Anatomy and Legal Medicine, Anatomy and Medical Imaging, Human Musculoskeletal System, Clinical Medicine, Surgery, Speech and Language Pathology and Therapy, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Social Medicine and Preventive Healthcare, Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Pediatrics, Complementary Propaedeutics, and Mental Health.

The Faculty of Medicine hosts three undergraduate courses: Medicine, Speech and Language Pathology-Therapy, and Radiodiagnostic Technology. This Faculty also hosts 10 graduate programs issuing master's and doctorate titles, namely: Speech and Language Pathology-Therapy, Surgery and Ophthalmology, Infectology and Tropical Medicine, Molecular Medicine, Pathology, Preventive Medicine (this one only issues master's degrees, and not yet doctorate titles), Child and Adolescent Health, Public Health, and Women's Health. This faculty also is responsible for the UFMG Clinics Hospital and all medical residency programs that take place there.

The UFMG Faculty of Economics hosts 5 undergraduate courses: Business Administration, Accounting, Economics, Finances and Management Control System, and International Economic Relations. The Faculty also houses several post-graduate programs and faculty member departments.

The Faculty of Education of the UFMG hosts several departments, post-graduate programs, and undergraduate courses, with focus on Pedagogy and Educational Sciences and Practices. Its Education Post-Graduate Program is one of the best in Brazil.

The UFMG Faculty of Pharmacy is one of the best in Brazil, offering two undergraduate courses (Pharmacy and Biomedicine) and several Post-Graduate programs. Its faculty members are divided into 4 departments: Food Production, Drug Production, Social Pharmacy, and Toxicological Analyses.

The UFMG Faculty of Letters hosts the undergraduate course in Letters, which is divided into several emphases, such as Linguistics, Portuguese, Ensligh, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Editorial Services, Literature etc. It has two Graduate programs awarding master's and doctorate titles: Linguistics and Literature. It has a strong Linguistics research output, making it one of the best graduate programs in Brazil (Maximum score by the Brazilian Higher Education Research Administration).

The UFMG Faculty of Dentistry is the odontological unit, graduating dentist-surgeons and performing research and practice activities on Odontology.