Unicamp has just completed the Activity Report for the period 2013-2017. The document, which contains 246 pages, presents an overview of the administration of rector José Tadeu Jorge, which will end on April 19th. According to the text, despite the budgetary difficulties caused by the country's financial crisis, the University managed to maintain the quality standard of teaching, research and extension activities throughout the four-year period. “When the crisis is overcome, Unicamp will be prepared to experience unprecedented qualitative and quantitative growth”, analyzes Tadeu Jorge.
The report, according to the rector, is an accounting both to the university community and to society in general on the progress made during the period. The document brings together the main achievements in different areas. One of the highlights of the administration, points out Tadeu Jorge, was the implementation of a program to replace the teaching staff, which had been strangled for several years. “The Central Administration understood that restoring the number of teachers was essential to guarantee the quality of teaching”, highlights the rector.
Thanks to the measure, the institution concluded 2016 with 1.909 teachers, a significant jump compared to the 1.757 registered in 2013. “The teaching staff was completely disconnected from the University's production, which had been growing year by year. Replenishing the number of teachers was one of the priorities of this administration”, points out Tadeu Jorge. According to him, if it weren't for the unprecedented financial crisis that hit Brazil, and which caused real drops in the University's budget for three consecutive years, something unprecedented in history, the institution could have made more progress in the last four years.
Even so, continues Tadeu Jorge, many advances were achieved, due to the conscious decision of the Central Administration to use part of the financial reserves accumulated by Unicamp over the years. “We work with the reality imposed by the crisis. The option was to invest in areas and programs that would not allow the University’s main activities to deteriorate,” he explains.
In addition to restoring the teaching staff, the rector cited other initiatives that, in his opinion, were important for the institution. “The two revisions promoted in PAAIS [Affirmative Action and Social Inclusion Program] were fundamental for Unicamp to achieve the objective of having 50% of entering students coming from public schools. The creation of the Chamber for Analysis and Approval of Agreements and Contracts was another extremely important measure. It reduced the time it took to sign an agreement or contract from six to eight months to 15 to 20 days”, points out Tadeu Jorge.
The director also mentions the process of equal pay between Unicamp employees and USP employees as a prominent measure. “Although we were unable to complete the process, we reached almost half the value, which is no small feat. We were unable to go further precisely because of budgetary difficulties”, explains the dean. Finally, Tadeu Jorge indicates the implementation of 30 hours of work per week for health professionals directly linked to assistance as another important achievement of the current management.
