History
The Graduate Program in Law (PPGD) at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), created in 1973 within a spirit of innovation of graduate programs in Brazil, has established itself as one of the most prestigious in the country, obtaining grade 6 (out of 7) in the last 3 triennial evaluations by CAPES (the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel). This is a result of the program’s successful and extensive reformulation and implementation during the period. In its evolutionary process, the Master’s Degree Program established lines of research structured in the following areas of concentration: Theory, Philosophy and History of Law; Law, State and Society; and Law and International Relations.
In the Doctoral Degree, in order to meet the political transformations taking place in the modern society, the area of concentration in Law, Politics and Society was created. The academic program emerged as innovative among those previously implemented in Brazil, due to its awareness of the growing importance of Philosophy and Critical Law and of the international transformations. With an eminently critical and interdisciplinary epistemological perspective, it aims to prepare and develop professionals/academics endowed with high scientific standards, without, however, disregarding the relevance of ethical and social responsibility values.
The curriculum structure of the Master’s degree program rigorously reflects the guidelines discussed by the area, consisting of required courses (basic knowledge) and courses by sub-areas of concentration. In this way, the Graduate Program in Law at UFSC stands out today in the national and international scenario due to the high reputation that it enjoys among the largest research and teaching centers in Law. Its scope is not limited to the UFSC facilities, since it offers courses in the capital and in other states of the country (through MINTER Master’s degree projects). Perfectly integrated with the process of democratization of legal research, it constantly carries out cultural exchange with renowned institutions in Europe and the Americas.
Under the aspect of international insertion, the Graduate Program in Law at UFSC has a number of cooperation agreements signed with foreign universities. In terms of integration with the undergraduate program, the PPGD has opened all of its activities to undergraduates, from joint seminars and conferences to supervision seminars, thesis defenses, monograph supervision, teaching practicum, and participation in research developed by the program’s faculty.
Goals:
- The qualification of personnel for the practice of higher education teaching and the training of researchers for scientific investigation in the area of Law.
- The development of new knowledge in the area of Law, aiming to contribute to the improvement of national and international institutions.
- The elaboration of a critical way of thinking, aimed at the construction of a Law that is better suited to the reality of Latin American countries in the 21st century and to the new international order.
