Information for International Students
PONTIFICAL CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF MINAS GERAIS – PUC Minas
The Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais – PUC Minas, founded in 1958, is one of the five largest universities in Brazil. Its activities concentrate mostly in the Belo Horizonte Campus, divided into four units – Coração Eucarístico, Barreiro, São Gabriel and Praça da Liberdade – and two university centres – Betim and Contagem. PUC Minas also comprises campi in four regions of the State of Minas Gerais: Arcos, Poços de Caldas, Serro and Guanhães. Altogether, PUC Minas has about 60,000 students, 2,000 faculty members and 1,800 staff members.
Introduction
POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
The Postgraduate Program in Social Sciences (PPGCS) at PUC Minas focuses on "Cities: Culture, Work and Public Policies". This program is aimed at graduates in Social and Human Sciences and professionals with higher education in other areas of knowledge who have an interest and/or experience in studies of the urban issue, with an emphasis on the themes of urban culture, work, public policies, local power and participation, metropolises, and inequalities.The PPGCS is a national excellence program consolidated by CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), and it was granted grade 5 in the Quadrennial Evaluation of this foundation. Accredited by CAPES since 1999, when it started its activities with a Master's degree, the program started to offer a doctoral course in 2005.There are three Research Lines:
- Culture, Identities and Ways of life
- Metropolises, Work and Inequalities
- Public Policies, Participation and Local Power
The objective of PUC Minas' PPGCS is to prepare qualified personnel for research and higher education activities. The courses also aim to better qualify professionals already integrated into the framework of public administration, private institutions and non-governmental organizations.
The PPGCS researchers and faculty members are part of national and international research networks, such as The Metropolis Observatory and the International Network for Training and Research in Advanced Public Policies.
Courses offered:
- MASTER'S DEGREE AND DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
SPECIFICATION OF THE RESEARCH LINES
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Culture, Identities and Ways of Life
It brings together studies on the socio-cultural dynamics of contemporary cities under the multidisciplinary perspective of the social sciences. It focuses on: social and spatial inequalities, gender and race/color; construction of identities and territories in the city; mobilities; different forms of appropriation of public spaces and constitution of memory and material and immaterial heritage; marginalized groups, drug use, youth cultures, sociabilities and urban ways of life.
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Metropolises, Work and Inequalities
This research line focuses on the socio-political dynamics of Brazilian cities, especially in the metropolises, analyzing processes that deal with the management of public goods, the organization and reorganization of the productive space and the labor market. The themes of inequality, social stratification and segregation are broadly addressed, in their urban, economic, social, political and cultural aspects. In addition, this line includes analysis that associate these themes with demographic dynamics and studies of gender, generation and color/race.
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Public Policies, Participation and Local Power
The re-democratization of Brazil and the new federative arrangement outlined by the 1988 Constitution, as well as the impasses and constraints of the decentralization process set in motion in the country in the last two decades, have transformed Brazilian municipalities into true laboratories for political, autonomous and/or directly induced experimentation by other levels of government. At the municipal level, in parallel with the persistence of clientelism and other traditional forms of interest intermediation, highly innovative public policies have been formulated and implemented not only with regard to their design and objectives, but also because they often privilege and institutionalize participation and new forms of interaction between the State and civil society. This research line aims to promote and host investigations that have as their object the analysis of such processes and dynamics
FACULTY MEMBERS
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