UEMG FRUTAL: OPEN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY
The State University of Minas Gerais was created at the end of 80´s as an option for more Minas Gerais students to have access to free public education of quality. Today the Institution has units in various regions of the state; part of this structure is linked to municipalities or foundations – these are the units which still have not become state-owned and run. Yet this decentralization of all of UEMG is already a commitment of the Governor of Minas Gerais, Antônio Anastasia.
Currently, of the total government and associated units, UEMG offers 142 courses at 12 campuses, 30 of these courses are free – in the first semester of 2010, 14,256 students were enrolled in UEMG. Of this total 41% do not pay to study. It is expected that by 2015 the entire UEMG system will be definitively assumed by the State.
The Campus in Frutal was implemented in 2007, a policy action from Federal Congressman Narcio Rodrigues, and constitutes the first educational institution to – effectively – function in the CITY OF WATERS. It was already born with free education guaranteed in all the courses. Currently, the UEMG in Frutal offers seven undergraduate courses that cater to 1312 students. In the physical structure of the UEMG Frutal Campus (CITY OF WATERS) there are already two buildings with three floors and 33 classrooms each. A third building identical to the others is already under
construction. In addition, UEMG has a modern auditorium with a capacity for 500 people with fully equipped and computerized laboratories. In all, federal and state governments have already invested R$ 24 million in this project.
Another R$ 7 million is being invested in completing the third building. The UEMG has already been structuring its first master’s degree for the Frutal Campus. It is a post-graduation course linked to environment issues.