Studying in Porto Alegreat the

Federal University of the Rio Grande do Sul

Nicolas Maillard

What are we talking about?

1. The Federal Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS

2. Ufrgs.INF and Ufrgs.EE

3. Undergraduate study– Organization,– Courses.

4. What next?

Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil

Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil

Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

U.F.R.G.S

The UFRGS – basic data

• ~30.000 students / 18.000 undergrad• Teaching staff: ~2.000 • 65 undergrad courses• 64 MSc./PhD programs

11%

24%

47%

14%

4%

27%

33%

27%

9%

4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

3 4 5 6 7

UFRGS

BRASIL

99

2007 PERFORMANCE RANKING OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS FOR WORLD UNIVERSITIES

500 universities

9 universities in Latin America

6 universities in BRAZIL

Univ.Univ. RankRank

USPUSP 9494

UFRJUFRJ 331331

UNICAMPUNICAMP 332332

UFRGS 462

UFMGUFMG 478478

UNESPUNESP 485485

Criteria

-PRODUCTIVITY- IMPACT

- EXCELLENCE

Rankings

An international university

Escola de Engenharia• Created in 1896• 11 undergrad courses:

– Material (Phelma),– Production (GI),– Electrical Eng. (Phelma), – Environment (E3),– And more: Metal., Mechanical Eng., Chemical

Eng., Automation, Civil Eng., …– 7 grad Msc./Phd programs

• Teaching staff: 173• Students: ~4000 students (3200 undergrad)

Instituto de Informática• An international center of excellence in Computer

Science and Engineering.

• 88+ professors, graduated abroad– Brazil (26) United Kingdom (5)– France (16) USA (3)– German (11) Portugal (2) – Canada , Belgium, Switzerland…

• 250+ master & PhD students currently enrolled, 140 PhD already graduated,

• Whatever the metrics, we are part of the “top-5” in Brazil.– CAPES evaluation, magazine awards, size(s)…

Campus do Vale

Informática

Engenharias

Lectures in amphitheaters....

Practical sessions in labs...

S6S7S8S9S10

S1S2S3S4S5

1

2

3

4

5

Vestibular

Classes

préparatoiresCycle ingénieur

Diplôme d'ingénieurgrade de Master (UE) Mestrado

Doctorat(PhD degree)

Baccalauréat

Ciclo U

niversitário

SELECTION

1st Y

2nd Y

3rd Y

Study program: [FB]r

Diploma of Engineer

Master’s degree

Engineer cycle

BACHARELADO

“CURSO”

Undergrad Courses• Incoming: “vestibular” of the UFRGS• Courses organized by semester• 4 ½ - 5 years formation

– Basic courses: math, physics, chemestry– Eng. Sciences: mechanics, eletricity, materials,

thermodynamics, informatics,etc.– Specific tecnical formation

• Ex. Electrical Eng.: eletronics, telecomunication, automatic control, eletric machines, etc.

– Trainee period (“I. C.” – Scientific Initiation)– Final project

• 1-2 semesters.

Disciplines “à la carte”• The disciplines are organized as a “dependence-

tree”Compiler: Abstract Lang., Paradigms of Prog.

Abstract Lang.: Graph Theory, Complexity

Paradigms: basic prog.

• The grades range from A ([9,10]) to D (<6). – D = repetition of the discipline.

• 1 discipline = 60 h / semester = 4h / week = 4 credits.

• Students usually choose 4-5 disciplines / semester.

• Not all are available each semester!

Students Exchange Programs

• Double degree (France)– Écoles Centrales– Grenoble Universités (INP)

• BRAFITEC (France)– Écoles Centrales– Grenoble Universités– Réseau Ampere: (ENSEIRB,ENSEA, ENSPS,ISMR)

• Erasmus Mundus (Europe)– EUBRANEX network– EBW network

• ParisTech (France)• Many other universities in

Europe!

The typical script for you

• 2 semesters, starting in August– Courses, or– Lab internship (July) + courses– 2 months Holiday in Jan/Feb.

• 3 to 4 semesters– double degree programs,– Final Project.

Student life• Academic environment

– RU, student card, international students meetings...

• Cultural activities– Cinemas, theaters, bars, parties,– Parks, Guaíba lake,

• Life cost (1 euro = 2.3 R$)– Cinema: 10 reais– 1 Coca-cola: 2 reais– RU Lunch: 2 reais– McDo: 10 reais– Select restaurant: 40 reais– Bus-ticket: 2.3 reais– Rent a flat: 400 reais / month. – POA – Rio by plane: 500 reais.

And more!• Master – Mestrado

– Bof... – The equivalence between the French Engineer /

European Master / Brazilian Mestrado is not defined yet.

• PhD – doutorado – 4 years course in Brazil,

• Trend is to decrease.

– VERY strong interaction with Grenoble• In all the scientific fields.

And more!

• Jobs in Porto Alegre– 1 current attempt...– Visa problem.

• Jobs in São Paulo / Rio– 1 past success story (Olivier Mentine),– Good option: work as “expatrié” for a

French company.

• Jobs in Latin America– PoA is a good starting point!

References• http://www.ufrgs.br/relinter

• http://www.inf.ufrgs.br, http://www.ufrgs.br/eng/

• http://www.inf.ufrgs.br/~nicolas

• nicolas@inf.ufrgs.br, navaux@inf.ufrgs.br, geyer@inf.ufrgs.br

• At the ENSIMAG: Marianne Genton, J.-L. Roch, Gregory Mounié, Yves Denneulin, Brazilian students!

• At the UJF : Brice Duhamel, J.-M. Vincent, J.-F. Méhaut, V. Martin, O. Richard.

• Next visits:– October, Claudio Geyer.

– January, Nicolas Maillard.

And don´t forget...To visit the parks and drink chimarrão on

Sunday...

And don´t forget...To have a look at our museums...

And don´t forget...To take you (boy|girl)friend to watch the

sunset...

And don´t forget...And, of course, to choose between red and

blue.