Unicamp will invest around R$100 million in up to three years in Campus II of Limeira, where the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA), opened in 2009, is currently located. The resources will be allocated to the construction of a multipurpose building with new classrooms, library and administrative rooms (R$81 million). This building will house the FCA and Unicamp's Faculty of Technology (FT), currently located on campus I, also in Limeira, and which will, therefore, be transferred to campus II. A 13 thousand square meter multi-sports gymnasium (R$ 15 million) will also be built, comprising administrative areas, multipurpose rooms and changing rooms.
The site will have four volleyball and/or basketball courts and two futsal and handball courts. The gym's external wall will be prepared for climbing. The complex will also have an athletics space, which will have a small running track, jumping track and throwing area, and will be used for teaching, research and extension activities. The main entrance will also be renovated (R$4 million) and new fences and sidewalks will be installed around the campus (approximately R$1,3 million).
The expansion process of Campus II of Limeira has been planned by the University since 2005. The first basic urban project was developed by Professor Edison Favero in 2006, being changed over the years so that the building and laboratory infrastructure were minimally completed in order to to allow the inauguration of FCA in 2009. After the first cycle of works, discussions about expanding infrastructure on the campus and the arrival of FT to campus II were restarted – however, due to a drop in budget revenue, the bidding process was interrupted. Recently, at the end of 2021, both the gymnasium project and the multipurpose building project were resumed and entered as a priority in the Multi-Year Investment Planning (PPI), of the Dean of University Development (PRDU) at Unicamp.
The importance of the PPI as a vital instrument of the University's investment policy to ensure the beginning and completion of works is highlighted by professor Fernando Sarti, coordinator of PRDU. “The investments were made possible precisely by the fact that we now have this instrument, which allows us to start and finish works safely, avoiding interruptions. This meets FCA's long-standing demand for the construction of a multipurpose building, which will also house the FT. The University, thus, meets a more than fair request from Limeira and, more than that, successfully promotes its own expansion.”
The rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, stated that it is an immense joy to be able to meet this demand from the Unicamp campuses in Limeira. "We know the importance of our two faculties and our technical college here for the city and for the University as a whole. Meeting this demand from our community is to further enable the improvement of quality in the training of professionals and in the development of research and extension that characterizes our units on both campuses.”
A Limeira's population will also benefit directly and indirectly from these investments. As professor Milena Serafim, current associate director of FCA, recalls, the works will provide economic and service dynamism in the surroundings of the campus, generating jobs, income and consumption. Professor Márcio Torsoni, director of FCA, said that the current management of the Unicamp Rectory was very sensitive to the demands of the directors of the two faculties [FCA and FT] so that these works were prioritized and carried out as quickly as possible. “The economic context, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, allowed Unicamp to once again make large investments that will benefit the entire city.”
Both Torsini and Serafim stated that the internal communities of the two colleges are happy and waiting for this integration. “This process is not just an effort to reallocate space, but a way of integrating the communities of the two units, contributing to the creation of an even more plural, diverse and vibrant space. This integration will open up new possibilities, whether in the field of teaching, with sharing of disciplines between units and courses, or in the field of research and postgraduate studies, with greater synergy between teachers, research groups and postgraduate programs. In terms of extension, joint efforts will bring more vibrancy to projects in the area and possible responses to problems in internal and external communities.”
for the teacher Leonardo Lorenzo Bravo Roger, director of the FT, transfer to campus II is seen by the faculty, staff and students at the college as a dream come true. “The collective feeling has always been that this would be too good to come true. And this feeling deepened even further when we took into account the high cost of the project. The years passed and with them came financial difficulties, the pandemic and the complementary law 173/2020 that made it difficult, formainly, the hiring of personnel outside the area of health care services and all types of investment in the University. In parallel, the problems with the lack of physical space at FT only increased until they reached the extreme of having to accommodate three or four teachers in the same room. This is the reality we live in our unit today." For him, the FT's departure to campus II will represent access to an excellent infrastructure. Each teacher will have their own individual office, where they can answer and clarify their students' doubts without disturbing their fellow teachers, and the problems with the lack of classrooms at critical moments will disappear.
He also recalled that campus II will have a city hall, as exists on the Campinas campus, and that services such as the Community Health Center, Unicamp Student Support Service and Psychological and Psychiatric Assistance Service will benefit the entire community. “Finally, the integration with FCA professors and students will provide the much-desired interdisciplinarity between the areas of knowledge of both faculties. "The future City Hall of Campus II, currently the Regional Administration Secretariat, coordinated by professor Alcides Scaglia, will have among its goals the challenge of facilitating the operationalization of the transfer and new occupation of campus spaces. “In this case, we will not have a role of determination, but rather of assisting in closer relations between the two faculties and obviously of promoting an effective and efficient occupation of campus II.”
"I received the announcement of the investments with joy. It is a great benefit for the students, the academic community, as well as the population. I am sure that the expansion of the campus will create more partnerships with Unicamp, directly benefiting the people of Limeira" , said Mayor Mario Botion.