Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

The history of the Federal University of Santa Catarina has its roots in the Polytechnic Institute of Florianópolis founded on 13 March of 1917 by José Arthur Boiteux. Organized as a free institute, it was the first college degree institution of Santa Catarina state. On 11 February 1932 the Law School was incorporated, officially in 1935.

That triggered a movement to start the first state university and on 18 December, of 1960 it became the University of Santa Catarina, offering the courses of Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Philosophy, Economics, Social Service and the School of Industrial Engineering. On 15 July 1968, as an effort of the Brazilian government to improve college education in Brazil with education reform, the major universities in Brazil were reorganized in Schools and Departments and acquired a new education structure, more resembling the American and English methodology. Since then the university became the Federal University of Santa Catarina.

In 1961 the institution earned a new place in the city to build its structure, located in the region of Trindade near downtown Florianópolis. The area was previously occupied by a model farm called Assis-Brasil and is located near the coast, having several streams crossing the actual campus. The moving was finished in 1980.

A young university, the Federal University of Santa Catarina continues to grow. During the 1980s, it began to invest heavily in the expansion of graduate programs and research, besides supporting the creation of technology centers in the state of Santa Catarina and the development of a number of outreach projects for the community. Today, UFSC has four other campuses distributed in the cities of Araranguá, Blumenau, Curitibanos and Joinville.