Sergio Salles-Filho responds

JU - Almost a year has passed since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, the scenario is still uncertain regarding the resumption of academic activities in person, in its various segments. How can we face this reality without putting the health of students, teachers and staff at risk and, at the same time, preserve the progress of teaching, research, assistance and administration activities?

Sergio Salles-Filho - The possibility of returning to face-to-face activities is still very uncertain given the evolution of the pandemic and its indicators, associated with the prospects for widespread vaccination of the population. Therefore, we will continue with predominantly remote activities in the 1st half of 2021, hoping to be able to plan a progressive in-person return as soon as access to the vaccine and/or changes in the disease's behavior allow.

We will work so that our community of teachers, researchers, students and employees and the entire population are vaccinated. We recognize the academic difficulties, the delay in training and the effect on the mental health of the entire community that the pandemic has caused. This occurs in all areas and is particularly acute for professionals who are working in person.

To face the return to campuses, we will create a Post-Pandemic Actions Committee, continuing the work that began in 2020 in a specific GT. This Committee will cover the activities that were affected: teaching (at different levels), research, extension, services and administration.

Diagnoses, solutions and identification of opportunities must include the consequences on the University's activities and on the communities of students, employees (Unicamp and outsourced workers), teachers and researchers and the external public with which Unicamp interacts.

In teaching, losses must be identified and recovery planned through proposals for adjustments to early childhood and complementary education, secondary education, undergraduate and postgraduate education. It will be necessary to diagnose and implement solutions for learning gaps, backlog of demands in subjects, evaluate and minimize the impact on completion time and difficulties in preparing and completing dissertations and theses.

In these initiatives, it is essential to consider the specific needs of students (mothers, people with socioeconomic vulnerability and difficulties in access and permanence, people with disabilities, indigenous people, foreigners, etc.), teachers and staff. Support for recovery from psychological and psychiatric problems should also be an integral part of recovery actions.

Special attention must be given to digital literacy skills and investments in virtual learning environments, offering courses, equipment and structure to support the use of teaching strategies using technology.

Special action is necessary to strengthen bonds and identities with students entering undergraduate, postgraduate and high school in the years 2020 and 2021, who were impacted in an unprecedented way by the forced absence and consequent lack of integration with the campus and people. In this sense, activities aimed at integration and academic coexistence, sports and cultural actions need to be implemented for this particular audience.

In research and extension, in a similar way, it will be necessary to evaluate impacts and propose actions that support projects and activities that suffered delays and had to be redirected or even canceled.

Unicamp demonstrated its ability to provide quick and effective responses to the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to the dedication of its professionals and the recognition that the interaction between science and the provision of services to the community is fundamental.

It offered quality service to the entire population, with extraordinary commitment from professionals working in the areas of health, security, maintenance, IT, food, among others, amplifying the importance and reaffirming its role for the population and the University itself.

Unicamp now needs to look for ways to recognize the efforts of everyone who contributed, meet demands that have become very evident and sensitive and move forward in opportunities opened up by the epidemiological crisis. In particular, we have to provide:

• Strengthening bonds and identities with students entering undergraduate, postgraduate and high school in 2020 and 2021.

• Investment in emotional health programs, seeking to adapt them to the specific demands of different groups in our community, taking advantage of the bases of the Well-Being project and its Good Practice Guide.

• Investment in the expansion and scope of health care that the University offers to employees and faculty on all campuses.

• Investment in SAE and SAPPE services, in response to the increase in demand among high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

• Resume and expand benefits to employees, especially those in more vulnerable conditions and who had to continue working in person.

At the same time, we will take advantage of and advance the positive experiences gained during the period, such as:

• Holding meetings, online or hybrid thesis defenses.

• Dissemination of activities and techniques to support teaching that use digital resources and new technologies.

• Expansion of EA2 and GGTE actions and interaction with units with teaching and training activities.

• Expansion of the supply and use of multi-user centers and equipment for research activities.

• Expanding the reach of extension and cultural actions through the use of digital access and dissemination technologies.

• Taking advantage of remote activities that have recently occurred due to the pandemic, encouraging participation in Virtual Exchange Programs known as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), developed by several universities

• Expansion of digitization and access to Unicamp's libraries, collections and archives for teaching, research and extension activities.

• Institution of Unicamp's digital transformation program towards a digitally modern university, with more agile and easy-to-follow processes, which involve less bureaucratic work and consistently and permanently reduce rework and time spent by employees, teachers and students with administrative processes.

• Investment in digital literacy in Unicamp communities.

• Regulation of teleworking at Unicamp.

 

JU - The pandemic also drastically affected the economy, with a reduction in economic activity and a consequent drop in ICMS collection, the main source of resources destined for public universities in São Paulo. The economic recession, which was already significant before this scenario, worsened even further. How can we preserve the quality of teaching, research and services provided by Unicamp to the community, especially in the health sector, in a context of deepening budget restrictions?

Sergio Salles-Filho - The economic crisis in the country, which had been dragging on for around six years and imposing budgetary and financial restrictions on the University, worsened substantially in 2020. In the middle of that year the forecasts were gloomy and the fear of not being able to achieve Closing the accounts for the year was concrete. The internal effort to not put at risk the payment of personnel and other Unicamp funding items was severe.

In parallel, legal restrictions were imposed by the federal government on states and municipalities in return for economic aid during the pandemic. Complementary Law 173 of May 27, 2020 imposed the stagnation of investments in personnel, particularly in promotions, progressions, new hires and even counting time in public service.

In short, we are going through a moment of financial strangulation for which we need urgent actions that, yes, take responsible care of the budget and financial reserves, but that also seek to alleviate the problem and gradually resume investments in the University.

The responsibility with which Unicamp worked on its budget over these years made it possible for us to now, at the beginning of 2021, reach a relatively balanced financial situation. We ended 2020 with reserves close to what we had when we started that year. We paid all salaries and other expenses on time and entered this year with a situation that, although not exciting, is positive.

In parallel to the internal effort to achieve financial balance in the midst of the crisis, there was a recovery in the economy in the last months of last year – although it has not yet stabilized – allowing the preparation and approval of a budget for 2021 that presents a situation of relative financial balance. We still have an accounting deficit forecast for 2021, but at a much lower level than what we have had in recent years. All care remains important, especially because the pandemic continues and uncertainty about the behavior of the country's economy and the state of São Paulo remains high.

Among the possibilities that can be seen at the time this text is written, there are important amounts in the budget that can be applied to personnel and infrastructure. This will be possible under conditions that we do not yet have, but that can be changed: due legal support on Complementary Law 173 (which must be discussed within the scope of CRUESP) and the evolution of the economy's behavior. In other words, we have to prepare ourselves – and the Uma Só Unicamp slate is already prepared – to review the budget and reallocate resources to currently unforeseen expense items.

Specifically, we will have around 133 million reais that were conditioned until the end of January and now confirmed in the Budget Execution Decree. This will require discussion and prioritization at the University, which can be done during budget review moments (May and August, in principle).

As we pointed out in our management program, the priority in a possible review will be the Personnel Group of the 2021 budget, followed by investments in infrastructure.

We know that demands for investment are high, there is a backlog in progression, a lack of hiring, a lack of provision for a career progression system, and urgent needs for infrastructure and works. To meet these demands, we will carry out detailed planning with the University's units and bodies and implement multi-annual budgets in which resources for hiring, replacement of vacancies and progressions of teachers and researchers and investments in infrastructure are planned for four years.

Multi-annual budgets allow you to visualize investments that are not possible to meet in just one year and, made in a coordinated and planned way, allow you to meet an important part of the demands.

We will work with scenarios to plan how to act on fluctuations in revenue, up and down. It is necessary to project values ​​knowing what we should do if there is frustration or an increase in Unicamp's revenue.

It is also necessary to immediately carry out studies on the possible impacts of the tax reform on Unicamp's main source of revenue, the ICMS and the State Treasury, in order to prepare for changes that may require a new pact with the state government.

Monitoring and responsibly managing Unicamp's budget and financial reserves is basic. Unicamp has a long tradition of seeking complementary resources to develop its research activities, but also teaching and extension activities.

This practice exists in all public universities in the country and the world and is mainly due to the actions of teachers, researchers, employees and students. More recently, many universities have started to have an institutional policy for seeking and attracting complementary resources.

We will create at Unicamp an Office for Fundraising and Support for Research, Teaching and Extension Projects, which should amplify fundraising from different sources of financing, open new financing channels for projects and programs, support negotiation of agreements and contracts and guide researchers. Unicamp currently has substantive amounts of extra-budgetary resources (around 650 million reais per year on average over the last 10 years).

Any initiative in this regard must also consider financing the health care offered by Unicamp to a population of around 3 million inhabitants. Today, around 70% of the resources used to provide free public health care to the population come from Unicamp's budget, with the remainder coming from SUS and complementary sources, such as parliamentary amendments.

There is a financial bottleneck that holds back the development of Unicamp's health service areas. We need to eliminate or reduce this bottleneck, allowing us to expand investments and services to the public. In our management program we make several proposals on this subject (https://www.sergioeliana21.com.br/nossas-ideias).

As stated in our program, our management will identify and implement models (legal, managerial and financing) that are coherent with the triple function performed by the areas of health: quality care for the population, teaching and training of professionals and research in various segments of health sciences.

It should be noted that the current situation of financial constraints also affects the learning environment itself for around 1.300 undergraduate students in Medicine, Speech Therapy, Nursing, Pharmacy and Nutrition, 750 health professionals in Medical and Multiprofessional Residency programs, in addition to those specialization and improvement.

 

JU - Universities and Science have been harshly attacked by sectors of society aligned with denialist positions with an ideological bias. In your opinion, how should Unicamp position itself in the face of these attacks and what role should it play in defending its purposes?

Sergio Salles-Filho - This is a question of enormous importance. These attacks have been very strong and target values ​​on which the legitimacy of universities and science depend. We, the university system and the scientific community in the country, cannot lose the legitimacy that we have in society and that was hard won. So, if there is a dispute that threatens us, more than ever it is necessary to face this public debate and defend the importance of what we do for the social, economic, political and environmental development of Brazil and the world. Unicamp, due to its history and relevance, must be one of the protagonists of this dispute.

When we decided to present ourselves to the community as candidates for the rectorship, we were aware that the coming years will present the university and science with major challenges with unprecedented contours in the history of the country. We are convinced that our professional trajectories, which have always been based on importance of science and its countless social ramifications, and our commitment to democracy as a greatest political value give us the foundation we need to face these challenges.

One of the foundations of our University Management Program is the defense of its public, free and plural character, with academic and administrative autonomy. We understand that these are conditions for the university to evolve and fulfill its teaching, research and extension missions, engaging with different segments of society. Therefore, we are convinced that the development of the university is intrinsically linked to the search for democratic values ​​and freedom of thought. In this way, Unicamp must strengthen them internally and must publicly position itself in defense of these values.

That said, how to face denialism, the attack on science, the disregard for scientific evidence, the practice of disinformation and the contestation of the role of the university? On the one hand, with more information, with more evidence and with the strengthening in society of the foundations of academic argumentation, which is based on theories and supported by empirical evidence. We need to demonstrate to society that everyone benefits from these values ​​and that we can all be at serious risk when they are lost. On the other hand, with strategically thought out political action, articulating with other universities and scientific institutions, we work together with agents of society and political actors who play a key role in the disputes that affect us.

Many actions can be carried out to promote, in an expanded and systematic way, communication with the different segments of society and the political space. We must interact more with different agents, we must communicate more and better. This is a two-way street, as it is necessary not only to transfer what we do abroad, but also to open the university so that external views and demands, from different agents, can enter and feed what we do.

In this sense, we will promote:

• The unconditional defense of academic values ​​and respect for democratic practices and instances, leading by example, and seeking to promote movements aligned with other state public universities.

• The University's two-way engagement with different segments of society.

• The exercise of academic and administrative autonomy with responsibility and systematic communication of its benefits to society.

• The implementation of a permanent policy to defend autonomy among key segments of society.

• The appreciation of the institution's internal and external communication, with different communities and in varied formats.

A permanent effort is needed to ensure that Unicamp participates in relevant debates and to identify opportunities to build intersections between Unicamp's strategic interests and the agendas that are the subject of attention from members of the state, municipal and federal legislature and executive, as well as different segments of society.

Expanding engagement with society is one of the demands of the contemporary world and a condition for achieving the quality it seeks in the development of its missions. It is one of the success factors that need to be planned and implemented and that can greatly contribute to the sustainability of the university.

 

JU - In recent years, a significant number of teachers and staff have reached retirement. At the same time, budget restrictions resulting from the economic situation make it difficult to replace staff at the same pace. How to minimize damage and maintain quality?

Sergio Salles-Filho - This is a subject of the greatest importance and priority in our Management Program. Our commitment is to seek, from the outset, the necessary legal, political and financial means to resume progression and hiring of teachers, researchers and staff as quickly as possible and simultaneously promote the development of different careers to make them more attractive.

Our idea is to seek measures that allow us to overcome the financial crisis and the limits imposed by recent structural changes (such as changes in social security and civil service rules) and cyclical changes (prolonged financial crisis, accentuated in the last year by the pandemic and Complementary Law 173, which prohibited growth in personnel expenses in states and municipalities in exchange for federal financial support).

One of the strategies for these actions is our proposal to work with multi-year planning and budgets, which allows us a medium-term vision of investment, hiring, promotion and progression possibilities (see answer to question 2 above). In this context, we will work with concrete measures to eliminate the existing bottleneck at Unicamp for horizontal and vertical progression at all levels and to establish a systematic and regular policy for recomposing the teaching staff, researchers and employees.

Here it is also worth highlighting the importance of planning and negotiation “on the cutting edge”, so that the demands of different units and bodies are identified and so that a joint prioritization process takes place, planned for 4 years, thus covering justified demands as quickly as possible. , as pointed out in the answer to question 2.

Another way to reduce the impacts of a lack of staff replacement is to develop and implement an Integrated People Management Policy, because we believe that staying at Unicamp depends not only on an attractive career and fair remuneration for work, but also on personal projects and satisfaction to be in this institution. All of this contributes to the quality of the University as a whole and the quality of life of each of those who make up our community.

From the perspective of teachers and researchers, this involves reviewing careers, with representation from different levels and segments, aiming to make them more appropriate and rewarding for effort and performance in teaching, research and extension activities, as well as in administrative activities, through appropriate incentive mechanisms.

This also includes consideration of the different vocations and forms of dedication of teachers and researchers within the broad spectrum of the university's missions, as well as valuing the specificities of different areas of knowledge so that these missions develop in a balanced way. This obviously involves reviewing evaluation criteria.

It is also important to alleviate the excessive bureaucratic demands on teachers and researchers and create mechanisms that assist them in the search for resources, cooperation and partnerships, as well as in the preparation of agreements and contracts for the development of teaching, research and extension activities.

From the perspective of employees, the Integrated People Management Policy must include career improvement and development, creating new conditions for valuing the work carried out and each person's skills, in addition to changes in performance evaluation and the progression system . It is also important to create effective mobility mechanisms, as well as expanding opportunities to acquire and share knowledge, which promote personal and professional growth.

Our vision of the future, in addition to solving immediate problems and managing day-to-day activities with quality, has as its horizon the development of a university with broad academic and administrative leadership. To this end, it is necessary to ensure a workforce adjusted to demands. We have reaffirmed that it is necessary to contribute to the quality of life and the search for a culture of peace in all aspects, including working conditions. In this sense, we will support the implementation of the Mediation and Collaborative Actions Chamber as an essential measure to qualify people management, working to prevent and manage conflict situations.

Within this scope, it is important to highlight that we will implement an institutional policy of inclusion and appreciation of diversity that should guide hiring processes, as well as offering conditions for everyone to develop professionally. Likewise, we will be attentive to providing greater gender and racial diversity in leadership positions and that they are filled with peer consultation

We end here with our commitment to resume hiring based on multi-year planning, with allocation of resources in the budget. We will also reorganize, recover and expand the attractiveness of different careers to guarantee the permanence of the professionals we have today and reinforce two of the principles that guide our Management Program, namely:

• The permanent search for excellence and leadership in the academic environment, on all fronts, with a focus on quality, including in the management and administration of the University.

• Valuing people, their skills and perspectives, in all communities.

 

JU - One of the most sensitive issues for technical-administrative employees concerns the career framework in different segments. How can we handle this topic in a way that reduces internal tensions?

Sergio Salles-Filho - Unicamp has a bad tradition of career instability and difficulty in implementing evaluation, promotion and progression systems that are effective and give peace of mind to those in their careers.

Employees' careers have suffered a series of discontinuities over the years, both in terms of structuring and in relation to evaluation and progression mechanisms. Currently, technical-administrative employees work in around 360 different functions at Unicamp and work under different regimes (CLT and Esunicamp), but they are integrated into a single career, which does not meet this diversity, both in terms of functions and professions. The PAEPE career should not suffer discontinuities that leave employees apprehensive and without objective prospects for professional growth, but it needs to be developed to account for this diversity.

No organization survives well without a career that is comprehensive enough to cover the different functions and professions that it has on its staff, allowing employees to do something basic: knowing how far they can progress in their career and what they have to do to get there.

The University has this liability, which needs to be quickly overcome. Two fronts will be developed simultaneously in our management: developing the career to take account of the diversity of functions and professions and clearly defining the mechanisms and criteria necessary for progression.

In all careers at Unicamp, a generational change is observed due to the large volume of retirements in recent years. In teaching careers, around 50% of teachers were hired in the last decade. Among employees in the PAEPE career, around 40% of technical-administrative employees have been at Unicamp for less than 10 years. These employees were hired in a context of new social security and civil service rules, which restrict rights and guarantees, especially those hired after 2013. They also suffer, more severely, the impact of the prolonged financial crisis that the country is going through.

Employees who have worked at Unicamp for longer, in turn, have suffered a flattening in their salary references and resent the loss of recognition and appreciation for their career at the University.

Furthermore, there is an important demand from the entire Unicamp community for the backlogs to be eliminated and the career progression processes of teachers, researchers and employees to be resumed. Our commitment, as stated in the questions above, is to zero and provide a continuous flow for these processes with resource allocation based on the planning of units and bodies.

As discussed in the previous question, staying at Unicamp depends not only on fair remuneration for work, but also on personal projects and satisfaction in being at this institution. In this sense, it is essential to discuss, develop and implement an Integrated People Management Policy. It must include a career review, creating new conditions for valuing the work carried out and each person's skills, in addition to changes in performance evaluation and the progression system. The idea is to develop levels of complexity horizontally to cover the diversity of functions and professions in the PAEPE career.

Therefore, it is our commitment to implement evaluation with instruments appropriate to different levels and functions, ensuring a fair, impartial process that results in effective recognition of employees' efforts and performance.

A good evaluation process must take into account the results obtained within the context in which the work was carried out, must foresee positive and negative feedback, allowing the employee to guide development actions, plan their trajectory at the University and seek self-management of their career. .

JU - On a global scale, the emphasis on research quality assessments has been shifting from mere attention to productivity to issues of impact and relevance. How should Unicamp respond to this cultural change?

Sergio Salles-Filho - We understand the evaluation of results and impacts – of research, but not only – as a necessary practice in the university’s routine. Assessment plays a fundamental role in planning, self-knowledge and accountability to society for what the university does. We always hear that the community identifies Unicamp with the Hospital, which provides extremely valuable services, but the lack of dissemination of the results of teaching, research and extension activities is, to a large extent, our responsibility. We have to improve our communication with society, because the very social legitimacy of being a free and plural public university, which receives R$2,5 billion annually in taxes, goes through this.

When understood as a practice, evaluation needs to be constantly updated in relation to the indicators and metrics it uses, as well as in relation to data collection and analysis instruments. In all these aspects, there has been an important evolution in recent decades and it is also up to Unicamp to contribute to this evolution.

The central point of this movement is the perspective of measuring impacts, that is, the effects of research results, always considering that such impacts manifest themselves in different dimensions. It is possible to see this movement in the international rankings of universities, which are adding dimensions of impact to the traditional indicators of academic production and reputation. Another important point is the growing availability of data and the growing need for processing capacity for this data for evaluation purposes.

Initially, we consider that the evaluation of research must go beyond accounting for scientific and technological production. We must measure the number of articles in journals – but also articles in events, books and book chapters, patents and artistic works, especially because different areas of knowledge have specific dynamics for publishing their research results.

We must also use indicators to qualify these numbers, such as journal impact factors, citations, national and international collaborations, once again without disregarding the specificities of the areas. But we must still be attentive to new indicators associated with scientific production, as is the case, for example, of prominence, which dynamically classifies research topics based on recent citations and views and the impact of journals and allows us to visualize relevance of the research we have carried out. Or even, altimetry, a set of alternative metrics that mainly identify how people interact around academic work in online environments, such as social networks, blogs and bibliographic reference managers, or even if, and how, these publications are cited in patents, public policy documents or clinical trials, just to give a few examples.

The same applies to the technological production that results from research activities. We must, in the same way, measure the number of intellectual property rights deposits, but also monitor licensing and other technology transfer agreements, which is essential to go beyond accounting. The same logic applies to social innovations aimed at public policies, as well as those involving the formulation and implementation of new products, processes, services or models (organizational, management, governance, relationships) specifically aimed at meeting needs and to confront social problems (Unicamp Institutional Assessment Report 2014-2018).

The measurement of other types of research and extension impacts – social, economic, environmental – are equally relevant and impose greater methodological challenges, precisely because it is necessary to be attentive to the attribution of causality between research and extension activities and their consequences, whether for quality of life, formulation of public policies, job creation, competitiveness, among others. However, despite the challenges, measuring impacts is important to understand that in addition to the excellent research that Unicamp produces, we have responsible and relevant research for social, economic and environmental development at regional, national and even international levels.

Recently, CAPES announced that Postgraduate Programs will need to carry out self-evaluation, in addition to planning, which could be a good pilot for research impact assessments within the scope of Unicamp, to be later organized at an institutional level.

It is understood that the change in culture with regard to research evaluation also involves the inclusion of indicators related to the process of carrying out research at the University. Identifying Open Science practices and diversity of research teams are, among others, fundamental elements in this aspect.

To enable and systematize this impact assessment practice, it is extremely important that Unicamp is able to organize its data internally and have access to various data bases and platforms, which can be integrated to generate the desired information. In addition, it is necessary to mobilize skills – among many that already exist at Unicamp itself and from national and international partners – to carry out the different stages involved in these exercises.

Our management will support the programs and units so that the evaluation methodologies provide relevant information for the different areas of knowledge, useful for understanding more and better what we do and the effects of what we do.

 

JU - Still within the scope of research quality assessment, are the usual impact and relevance measures the most appropriate, considering Unicamp's mission?

Sergio Salles-Filho - To answer this question it is necessary to understand Unicamp's mission. As explicit in our Management Program, we understand that Unicamp must evolve in a balanced and interactive way in its three constitutional missions: teaching, research and extension. Furthermore, we understand that it is not enough to state the inseparability of missions, it is necessary to practice it as an institutional policy, including all areas of knowledge.

Another foundation of our proposal is the University's two-way engagement with different segments of society. By associating these two fundamentals, we can understand that such engagement occurs primarily through the University's three missions, and then think about the implications for the practice of evaluation at Unicamp.

The first of these is the need for evaluation not to be restricted to research. In other words, if we want a balanced evolution of the three missions, we must also consider the weights of assessments and understand teaching and extension in their specificities, so that we are able to translate and measure the relevance of these activities.

Special attention is paid here to extension, an area in which there is less development in terms of indicators and evaluation methods compared to the areas of teaching and research. In other words, extension evaluation is a more recent practice and no less complex than teaching and research evaluations, as it covers a diversity of actions and relationships with different social groups and lacks comprehensive and available databases.

That said, we can say that from the perspective of institutional evaluation at Unicamp, the evaluation balance of the three missions seems clearer. From the perspective of evaluating teaching and research careers, a review is necessary that allows us to see the effects of each mission and the interaction between them. We know that original production of knowledge is essential, it remains to be seen how this is amplified and fed into training and extension actions.

The second implication of the foundations raised is the need for evaluations to consider the measurement of impacts beyond the more immediate results of their activities. If engagement with society is so dear to us, we need to understand how we are fed by society's demands and the effects of our activities on the University itself and in different social spheres.

In the previous question, this aspect was discussed for the research area. It is necessary that the evaluation of research goes beyond traditional indicators limited to the universe of science and technology (publications, citations, impact factor) and is capable of measuring the contribution of research to solving problems and proposing solutions.

The same goes for teaching and extension. In addition to accounting for actions – subjects, students, agreements, courses, services –, we need to evolve to better identify results and measure impacts.

An important aspect of the University's impact on society comes from its teaching mission. Unicamp trains almost 8 thousand students every year in technical colleges, undergraduate courses, stricto and lato sensu postgraduate programs and extension courses. The recent study carried out with graduates between 2009 and 2018 in the Institutional Assessment showed that they work in more than 400 areas of the Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE/IBGE), with a concentration in general public administration establishments in the three spheres of government and in entities higher education, thus training new professionals. The impacts of the training offered by Unicamp deserve to be better known.

An action already underway at Unicamp that goes in this direction is the mapping of graduates from technical secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, with an emphasis on analyzing their professional trajectories. Expand this mapping to graduates of extension courses, understand the transformations in the routines of organizations with which Unicamp collaborates (be they public administration, private companies, non-governmental organizations), measure the contribution of the Unicamp hospital complex in facing critical health issues (as in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic) are some examples of how progress can be made in this direction and how evaluations can help Unicamp to support its planning and, not least, to establish more effective communication with the society.

A third implication of our foundations for assessment is the consideration of interactions between teaching, research and extension. Measuring the effect of research and extension activities on the quality of teaching or even how much our extension activities impact the research agenda are very promising initiatives in strengthening integration between Unicamp's missions.

Therefore, we reinforce measures of impact and relevance in evaluation practice, going beyond the research universe, so that we can move more effectively towards a single Unicamp.

JU - What should be the role of the Rector in situations of conflict in the internal community, involving students, staff and teachers, taking into account the history of occupation of the Rectorate in the recent past?

Sergio Salles-Filho - In plural environments there will always be conflicts and the university is an institution that must cultivate plurality. The diversity of cultures and opinions represents one of our differences and our wealth. The university is, for all these reasons, a place of friction, of oppositions, of clashes of ideas and interests. There will always be differences, tensions and conflicts. What we must do is transform this friction into an opportunity to improve the construction of our democratic experience, cultivating the principles of mutual respect and the exercise of contradiction and strengthening institutional channels for explaining differences and building negotiated solutions. Our effort will always be to remain in the sphere of dialogue between the parties and, when necessary, with conflict mediation bodies.

One of the foundations of our proposal is to conduct management based on dialogue, the search for convergences and the construction of a healthy, empathetic environment of coexistence and institutional trust. This principle must be respected in different situations and in the different institutional spaces of the University, always in the spirit of the common good and integration that motivate us to build One Unicamp.

A principle that has guided our actions at the University, in all the positions we assume, is listening. When a rector permanently establishes a close relationship with the community, any conflict situation becomes easier to resolve and find an agreed solution. In other words, a good relationship must be developed at all times, not only in the University Council and its chambers and not only when conflict situations arise.

We attach great importance to the institutionalization of a culture of dialogue at the University. It is important to review and reinforce the participation of different groups in appropriate instances, considering the diversity present in our community. The representation of these groups in institutional spaces is essential for conflicts to find adequate solutions. Here we are talking about ensuring, in different instances, representation of the three communities, as well as, when necessary, representation of gender, race, career, areas of knowledge, among other aspects that characterize us.

Unicamp has invested in the culture of peace. It created a Chamber of Mediation and Collaborative Actions and has been training people in conflict mediation. We will place a lot of emphasis on these channels as we believe they are the appropriate way to build convergences to have empathetic and trustworthy environments.

 

JU - The State government's recent relationship with the academic community has been tumultuous, with threats of cuts to institutions' budgets, which required great mobilization to avoid measures that, if approved, would put teaching and research activities at risk. In your opinion, how should the rectory behave in the face of these threats and what is its policy on interaction with the state government?

Sergio Salles-Filho - It is important to anticipate potential crises and attacks from various government bodies (and from outside the government). And this must be done institutionally, with personnel trained in training and systematically, not sporadically or just in a defensive attitude.

In our Management Program, one of the 13 themes is exactly the coordination with government levels and control bodies with the aim of having institutional channels of communication and interaction.

Unicamp has and has had several isolated initiatives, some successful, others not so much. It is essential to have communication channels that allow us to monitor actions, prevent attacks, reduce threats and expand Unicamp's presence in the formulation and implementation of public policies. We have a lot to address and this depends on proactive actions on our part.

Permanent investment and attention are necessary for Unicamp to be part of relevant debates and thus identify risks and challenges, as well as opportunities to build intersections between Unicamp's strategic interests and the agendas that are the subject of attention from members of the state legislature and executive. , municipal and federal.

By carefully observing the recent tumultuous relations and their developments, testimonies at the CPIs and visits by parliamentarians, we realized that Unicamp's activities are largely unknown to several political representatives from the state, the metropolitan region of Campinas and even the cities in which Unicamp has campuses. . We need to open Unicamp's doors wider to different segments of society, including parliamentarians and government agents.

We will invest in the creation and consolidation of an Institutional Relations Office whose function will be to create, maintain and develop communication and interaction channels with different levels of government.

We can give concrete examples of short and medium-term preventive actions. The Covid-19 pandemic will leave many people dependent on therapeutic treatments and with financial difficulties, with a possible worsening of crises. We must anticipate likely attacks on the public sector, which was shielded from many of these consequences, whether by having the possibility of remote work or by maintaining their salaries.

We have to plan constructive approaches to avoid animosity from parliamentarians and populist governments, systematically describing and presenting all activities carried out during the pandemic. To achieve this, it is necessary to have targeted communication and marketing planning, which involves strengthening the Unicamp name, increasing the use of social networks and disseminating indicators and data that reveal the different contributions we make to society.

Another clear example of the need to have consistent institutional dialogue with public authorities is related to the tax and administrative reforms currently under discussion and which will have an important impact on people and the entire University. Unicamp needs to be in the discussions, participate in debates, formulations, create scenarios and design solutions for a situation that we are unaware of but that we know will be impactful.

In short, our management will implement, with the human resources we have, with appropriate training, constant mobilization to avoid measures that put the Unicamp institution at risk.

 

JU - How do you assess the importance of affirmative action and social inclusion policies at Unicamp and how to deal with the challenge of retention and student support policies, taking into account the growth of students with lower income?

Sergio Salles-Filho - Our Management Program is based on ten foundations that guide all of our proposals, including the active search for ethnic-racial, gender, cultural and social diversity as an element of promoting quality and inclusion.

Affirmative action and inclusion policies are fundamental for Unicamp to fulfill its mission. The University and society as a whole can only benefit from these policies. All segments of the Unicamp community - students, teachers, researchers and employees - must have a composition that is representative of the diversity that exists in Brazilian society. In this way, Unicamp will be able to count, in all its activities, on a broad spectrum of talents, with a wide variety of experiences, knowledge, concerns and interests.

At the same time as being a factor of inclusion, affirmative actions, by bringing diversity, contribute to the quality of academic activities. There are studies that offer concrete evidence about the impact of this diversity on the quality of university activities. Diversity is a path to creativity, inventiveness and cultural openness. Firstly, because it expands the possibilities of having talented professionals; secondly, because it allows the expression and integration of diverse, original points of view, little explored in the research, teaching and extension processes. The diversity of the student body, teachers, researchers and employees is also a condition for high-level training for the contemporary job market.

Jobs in the corporate world, in the public service and in the third sector require increasingly more preparation to adequately meet the needs and demands of a diverse population that is subject to rights. At the same time, a university of Unicamp's size has the responsibility of contributing to the advancement of democracy in our country, which presupposes training for the exercise of citizenship in a plural society, the training of people prepared to deal with the challenges of overcoming inequalities and repairing historical injustices to promote social justice.

As can be seen, then, the realization of the University's mission depends on the commitment to inclusion and diversity. In other words, it requires the success of inclusion policies, student retention and the development of academic and professional careers for groups currently less represented at the University.

We know that there are many challenges and that they are different when thinking about students at various levels of education (from early childhood education to postgraduate studies), teachers, researchers and staff. They are also distinct when thinking about teaching, research and extension. There are many initiatives in this direction at the University, some old, existing for decades, and others more recently implemented.

All of them need to become visible, strengthened and assumed as a value by the entire academic community. As a whole, these policies also need to have coordination bodies so that their effects are effective and lasting. These bodies will also be able to identify gaps and design appropriate institutional responses. In short, we need to move forward in the institutionalization of these policies so that they are structural, so that they leave their positive marks on all of Unicamp's activities and on the people who work there, in all segments.

There is a very important aspect that we would like to highlight: in order to be effective and produce lasting effects, inclusion policies must rely on the leading role of different groups in their formulation and implementation.

In our program, we detail a series of proposals, such as: strengthening psycho-emotional health programs and permanence policies, such as scholarships and grants, housing and others; measures to ensure the full inclusion of indigenous students; the consolidation of the Executive Directorate for Human Rights; promoting the anti-racist fight through concrete measures to combat structural racism and policies to promote gender equality; policies to combat forms of harassment and violence; reception policies for students and professionals in refugee situations; affirmative actions to increase the representation of underrepresented groups in different segments; promotion of continued reflection on our curricula and inclusive pedagogical practices and on academic rules, norms and procedures that require adjustment as they harm inclusion; strengthen accessibility policies, to guarantee the full participation of people with disabilities in all instances of Unicamp, including cultural, curricular, pedagogical, architectural and communication aspects.

This is the vision we have for our University. A diverse, inclusive University that produces excellent research, offers very high-level training in all areas and is engaged with society. Therefore, whatever the financial scenario, these policies must be satisfactorily present in the University's budget.