Unicamp maintains tradition and provides staff for decision-making positions in the federal government

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Considered an important source for formulating public policies, Unicamp revives a tradition and maintains experts in key positions in the third government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Five professionals who have or have had a consolidated career at the University will make up the first levels of government, in a movement that results from a process refined over the years.

Professor Milena Serafim, author of the study financed by Fapesp, which shows that research carried out at the University contributes to various public policy agendas
Professor Milena Serafim, author of the study funded by Fapesp on how research carried out at the University contributes to various public policy agendas

Since the mid-1980s, Unicamp research has been used as support for the preparation of political documents — legislation, plans, strategies and protocols —, according to a study financed by Fapesp (Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) and carried out by professor of the Public Administration course at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Unicamp Milena Serafim.

The study shows that research carried out at the University contributes to various public policy agendas, with strong prominence in areas relating to health, social inequality and poverty, and agriculture and the environment. According to the professor, the survey provided by the Overton platform shows that more than 4,6 political documents, produced by government organizations — municipal, state and federal governments — and non-governmental organizations (IGO), cited research carried out at Unicamp.

The study also showed that a significant part of these public policies focuses on the themes of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) agendas, in particular SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), SDG 3 (health) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities). “Our main interlocutors are the Brazilian government itself, with emphasis on IPEA (Institute of Applied Economic Research) and Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency, World Health Organization and European Union Offices”, says the professor. “We are advancing in comparative analysis of the three public universities in São Paulo, but it is already clear that our performance is compatible with the best Latin American universities", he states.

History shows, for example, that Unicamp contributed to fully consolidated programs in the country, such as the one that provided the bases for what would become the Unified Health System (SUS), the concepts of the Innovation Law and the conception of the Hunger program Zero.

From left to right: The president of BNDES Aloízio Mercadante; Minister of Institutional Relations Alexandre Padilha and the national secretary of Policy Evaluation and Monitoring Sérgio Firpo
From left to right, the president of BNDES, Aloízio Mercadante; the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, and the national secretary of Policy Evaluation and Monitoring, Sérgio Firpo 

The names

One of the names that make up the first echelon of the new government is the Minister of Institutional Relations of the Presidency, Alexandre Padilha – who is an infectious disease doctor trained at Unicamp and was a contributing professor of the professional master's degree courses at the University's Department of Public Health. The ministry is responsible for the government's political coordination and its relationship with Congress, parties, states and municipalities.

In the economic area, there will be three names. Graduated from the Institute of Economics (IE), where he also taught, economist Aloizio Mercadante will assume the presidency of BNDES (National Development Bank). The bank acts as the main instrument for implementing the federal government's investment policy. 

The IE professor and director of the Center for Conjuncture Studies (Cecon) at the Guilherme Mello institute will be the Secretary of Economic Policy at the Ministry of Finance. The secretariat's mission is to formulate projects and economic proposals in accordance with the federal government's strategy, in addition to evaluating the macroeconomic impacts of various public policies. Mello was part of the government's transition team and directly participated in the formulation of the so-called Transition PEC, which allowed the new government to increase the spending ceiling. The group also included economists André Lara Resende, Pérsio Arida and Nelson Barbosa.

Also from IE, Sergio Firpo will occupy the position of national secretary for Policy Assessment and Monitoring, at the Ministry of Planning and Budget, alongside minister Simone Tebet.

The Secretary of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Finance Guilherme Mello and the Secretary of Higher Education Regulation (Seres) of the Ministry of Education Helena Sampaio
The Secretary of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Finance, Guilherme Mello, and the Secretary of Higher Education Regulation (Seres) of the Ministry of Education, Helena Sampaio

At the Faculty of Education (FE), another name. Professor from the Department of Social Sciences Helena Sampaio was appointed to the position of Secretary of Higher Education Regulation (Seres) at the Ministry of Education.

“The Management of the Faculty of Education received with great joy the news of the appointment of professor Helena Sampaio to work at Seres do MEC, at a time when the challenges for higher education in the 21st century, in the State of São Paulo and throughout the Brazil, are quite large in terms of training bachelors and graduates to work in different fields of scientific knowledge”, says the note issued by the management of FE.

“For the Faculty of Education, an institution that has been dedicated to teacher training for 50 years, having representatives of its academic staff among the new MEC actors is fundamental to taking Unicamp’s teaching and learning experiences to all states and the Union”, continues the note. “We lack experienced, creative, engaged and humanized teachers and researchers to carry out the decisive tasks in the construction of public policies for higher education, and Professor Helena Sampaio meets all the necessary requirements to help create a more educated, fair society and participatory in Brazil”, he adds.

The FE board recalls that Helena Sampaio has stood out both in Brazil and abroad for her work with research focused on higher education and with her vast experience in investigations into comparative education systems, policies for higher education, student retention policies, management and organization of teaching, in addition to being an excellent educator, working at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The note also states that the professor has “an unshakable ethical-political commitment to democracy and human rights”, a characteristic that makes her an intellectual “fully qualified to carry out the position entrusted to her and equal to the challenges that await her”, ends.

From the left. to right: Maria da Conceição Tavares, Paulo Renato Costa Souza and João Manuel Cardoso de Melo; Institute of Economics has an extensive list of participation in the government
From the left. to right, Maria da Conceição Tavares, Paulo Renato Costa Souza and João Manuel Cardoso de Mello: Institute of Economics has an extensive list of participation in the government

Extensive list of contributions

The Institute of Economics built an extensive list of contributions to the federal government, in different periods and different areas.

PhD in Economics from Unicamp, professor José Graziano da Silva is considered one of the main references in food security and rural and agricultural development in the world. He was the main creator of the Fome Zero Program, which, between 2003 and 2010, helped lift 28 million people out of extreme poverty. Furthermore, he inspired a new set of public policies that aimed to promote economic and social development in Brazil.

Previously, still in the 1987th century, other Unicamp graduates contributed to the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. This was the case, for example, of economist and professor Paulo Renato Costa Souza, who was rector of Unicamp from 1991 to 1995 and held the position of Minister of Education from 2002 to XNUMX.

IE economist Geraldo Biasoto Júnior, in turn, was coordinator of fiscal policy at the Ministry of Finance and secretary of health investments at the Ministry of Health during the FHC government.

Clockwise: José Graziano, Luiz Gonzaga Beluzzo, Geraldo Biasoto and José Serra
Clockwise, José Graziano, Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo, Geraldo Biasoto Júnior and José Serra

Several other names linked to the University influenced the implementation of anti-inflationary plans or were part of the first team of economists in Brazilian governments in the initial period of the redemocratization process. This was the case of Maria da Conceição Tavares, Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo, João Manuel Cardoso de Mello and José Serra.

Director of the Unicamp Institute of Economics, professor André Biancarelli sees the presence of University staff in the first levels of government as “natural and positive”. According to him, this type of protagonism is already part of the history of IE — a place of formative nature, which encourages the discussion of ideas and opens spaces for different interpretations about Brazil.

For the director, the recruitment of these specialists is a sign of IE's relevance and an indication that the institution is connected to Brazil's problems. “It is recognition, but it is also a task. It justifies our existence”, he assesses.

The professor warns that participation in the government does not mean party alignment. According to him, before being a current, IE is a reflection on the challenges of Brazil's development.

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Esplanade of Ministries in Brasília; five professionals who have or had a consolidated career at the University will make up the first levels of government

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