Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito

The Graduate Studies Law Program (PPGD) at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) was created by Administrative Rule No. 116, dated June 19, 1973. It was approved by the Postgraduate Regional Council on July 25, 1972, and by the Teaching and Research Commission at the Federal University of Santa Catarina on June 14, 1973. Its accreditation by the Federal Education Council was published in the Official Gazette on December 13, 1978.

Inserted within an innovative spirit of Brazil’s stricto sensu programs, in its evolutionary process, the Master’s Program established research lines structured into the following areas of concentration: Theory, Philosophy, and History of Law; Law, State, and Society; Law and International Relations. In 2016 and 2017, there was a curriculum reform shaped by societal demands and faculty profiles. Consequently, the program currently maintains research lines explicitly connected to the areas of the Master’s Course and implicitly to the Doctorate area, as follows:

Regarding the Doctorate, its project was approved by the UFSC Teaching, Research, and Extension Commission through Administrative Rule No. 216-GR-1984, on May 4, 1984, obtaining accreditation by Opinion No. 729 of 1988. And to address political transformations in modern society, there was created the new concentration area: Law, Politics, and Society.

The program emerged with an innovative approach among those implemented in Brazil, attentive to the growing importance of Philosophy and Critical Law, in addition to international transformations. With a critical and interdisciplinary epistemological focus, it has consistently stood out for fostering the training of professionals and academics with high scientific standards, without disregarding the relevance of ethical values and social responsibility.

Over its historical trajectory, the Program has established itself as one of the most renowned in the country. While Capes adopted the evaluation system based on concepts, it consistently achieved the Concept “A”. With the adoption of the grading system, it was initially awarded a Grade of 6, resulting from the success of the program’s comprehensive reform and committed performance. It has persistently and continuously established itself as a Center of Excellence in the teaching, research, and extension of Law, with a critical and interdisciplinary approach. It aligns with the ongoing objective of promoting a robust institutional Postgraduate Program, capable of presenting society with its highly qualified proposal, serving as a hub for the production scientific knowledge and the training of human resources. Additionally, it boasts a Strong theoretical and scientific foundation, innovative research methodologies, and significant integration at local, regional, national, and international levels. This fosters the development of highly qualified researchers with remarkable impact, contributiong to national development.

Thus, the Program stands out today in the national and international scenario, enjoying high regard among the top centers for research and teaching in Law. Its reach is not limited to the facilities of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, as it offers courses at headquarters and in other states of the federation, receives students not only from all over Brazil but also from other countries, and integrated into the democratization process of legal research, it constantly conducts cultural exchanges with renowned institutions in Europe and the Americas.

Objectives

The Program’s central objective is to conduct advanced research and studies in Law, adopting a critical and interdisciplinary perspective. It offers education at the academic levels of Master’s and Doctorate, aimed at the training of qualified human resources for academic activities (teaching and research) and professional roles in Law and related fields, with the potential to operate in both public and private sectors and the ability to foster innovation and positive societal transformation, contributing to national, regional, and local scientific development.

Academic, theoretical or practical research follows a line of critical reflection, encompassing investigations linked to the areas of Theory and History of Law, as well as research in International Law and Sustainability. This includes studies in research lines related to the area of Law, State, and Society, generally adopting a reflective stance facing the global transformations in international organizations and states, their norms, and behaviors of actors, agents, and subjects, aiming to enhance interdisciplinary perspectives in the dialogue of knowledge.

The epistemological and pedagogical parameters for consolidating research results aim to stimulate investigative capacity and, through the development of research methods, provide a solid foundation for the expansion of Postgraduate Studies in Law and the improvement of professionals—whether legal practitioners or academics—endowed with high scientific and technical standards and exceptional qualifications to act in society, whether in public or private domains.

The specific objectives of the Graduate Studies Law Program at Federal University of Santa Catarina, according to the terms of its political-pedagogical project, are as follows:

1. To promote pedagogical processes that prioritize humanistic and critical, interdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary training, creating conditions and possibilities for students to adequately understand contemporary society and its practices, as well as intervene in institutions and social experiences.
2. To consolidate the technical-professional training that students received in their previous academic stages by fostering growth through innovative, interdisciplinary, and reflective research and by developing competencies for qualified performance in the area of Law, both in public and private sectors.
3. To develop students’ pedagogical-scientific training so they can play social roles as educators and researchers in the applied social sciences, with research serving as a source of data, information, and knowledge, whose results, once structured, will be taught and shared with the external public through extension activities.
4. To strengthen students’ critical capacity in relation to the legal phenomenon, understood both as a legal system and as a social science, as well as regarding contemporary social problems requiring the application of state Law and alternative conflict resolution methods.
5. To continue and stabilize Master’s and Doctorate courses as hubs for reflection and investigation of philosophical and historical thought, global transformations of international organizations and states, their norms, and behaviors of actors, agents, and subjects.

Mission

The mission of the Graduate Studies Law Program (stricto sensu) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina is founded on two main pillars:

• Participating in the dissemination of information and knowledge in an integrated manner to advance the teaching, research, extension activities, and to administrative of the Federal University of Santa Catarina.
• Promoting high-quality scientific knowledge through the training of academics endowed with strong ethical values, social responsibility, and universal solidarity. This is achieved via shared and dialogical management aimed at continuous excellence, in a program that strives to be democratic and pluralistic, fostering mutual cooperation in the production of highly qualified scientific knowledge with significant societal impacts.

Values

It is also important to highlight that the Program’s key values are internationalization, sustainability, innovation, diversity, ethics, interdisciplinarity, social justice, cooperation, dialogue, and the promotion of Human Rights.