Rectory prepares Charter for Science and Education

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View of the Consu Room during the delivery of the Charter for Education and Science
View of the Consu Room during the delivery of the Charter for Science and Education

Unicamp document calls for the valorization of science and brings proposals aimed at education and encouraging innovation. The text was delivered this Thursday afternoon (5) by rector Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who, after the meeting, participated in an act at the University's Arena Theater.   

Called the Charter for Science and Education, the document (see the full article here or in the PDF below) requests a State policy for financing higher education, with the guarantee of academic and administrative autonomy.

It also asks political actors to promote a permanent discussion with society for the development of higher education, science, technology and innovation.

Furthermore, the Charter suggests the establishment, together with funding bodies, of programs that encourage training and research in applied and basic areas, including the humanities and the arts.

The Rectory's document points out that progress in science cannot occur amidst funding uncertainties. Alongside State policies that allow for medium and long-term planning, social inclusion mechanisms and student retention programs should also be developed.

The Charter also suggests that public and private institutions be guided by the 2030 Agenda and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals – which provide, among other points, quality education, poverty eradication and environmental protection.

Democratic spirit

The rector of Unicamp says that the meeting reaffirms the democratic spirit that has guided the University since its birth.

Meirelles guaranteed that the document will be delivered to all political actors who are willing to dialogue with the academic community.

“We are entering a period that will end with the elections. Our community is willing to talk to the different political-ideological nuances of the country,” he stated.

“Unicamp has been, since its creation, an open space for democratic discussion, even in difficult moments in our political history,” said the rector.

“One of these moments was the process of welcoming people who had difficulty with the military regime. The University even received professors from Latin American countries that were also being persecuted. Doing justice to this history means maintaining this democratic tradition”, he urged.                      

“I want to reaffirm Unicamp’s commitment to democracy and dialogue. We want the community to have the possibility of discussing issues relevant to the future of the country”, she explained.

For him, the academic community is especially concerned with the future of education, with the generation of knowledge, culture, inclusion and the values ​​of democracy.

“It would be strange for a space like Unicamp to close its doors to a discussion with the world of politics”, he argues.

According to the rector, Unicamp wants to participate in the debate on national issues and the formulation of public policies.

“Our objective is to influence the formulation of these policies, with the goal of building a civilizing policy that improves income distribution and the population’s access to the goods of modernity,” he explained.

For Meirelles, the University needs to be permeable to contact with the outside world and this contact cannot be selective. “That would be to stop acting as a public institution and strip away the democratic spirit,” he concluded.

Unicamp Arena Theater during an event with former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Unicamp Arena Theater during an event with former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

The document

Upon receiving the document, the former president thanked Unicamp. “This University has a lot to do with my life, even though I never studied here,” he said.

“I owe a lot to this House because it produced some of the people who helped me get to where I am, to develop government programs, to govern the country”, he stated.

Lula cited the cases of historian Marco Aurélio Garcia and economists Maria Conceição Tavares and José Graziano – who, according to the former president, was responsible for structuring the Fome Zero program.

“This University helped produce much of the political consciousness of this country, this state and this city,” he said.

Lula said that, if elected, he intends to talk to the rectors of Brazilian public universities. “If the government doesn’t know how to generate jobs, how to promote inclusion, he, at the very least, should ask if universities do,” he said.

After the meeting with members of Unicamp's Central Administration, the former president participated in an act at the University's Arena Theater, in which he spoke to students and supporters.

 

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Audio description: Indoor area, perspective image at a short distance of 2 men standing next to each other and facing the right of the image, with the man on the left holding an open black folder with a document inserted in his hands , as if showing it to other people. On the right of the image, a woman sitting in a chair smiles and applauds. Behind them, there is a wall with several horizontal friezes in low relief. Everyone wears formal clothes. Image 1 of 1.

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Writer and columnist, the sociologist was president of the National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences in the 2003-2004 biennium