Universidade Regional do Cariri

The **Universidade Regional do Cariri** (URCA) (English: **Cariri Regional University**) is a brazilian state public university with its main offices in the city of Crato, located in Ceará state. It also has other campuses in the city of Juazeiro do Norte and small units in Iguatu, Campus Sales and Missão Velha. Also, it includes the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Museum of Paleontology in Santana do Cariri. URCA has about 12.500 students from 111 towns in the states of Ceará, Piauí, Pernambuco and Paraíba. These students study in undergraduated, special, and postgraduated programs.

URCA was created by a state law in 1986 and officialy started in 1987. It is part of Ceará`s higher education system and works with the Department of Science and Technology. The university has 238 technical staff, 347 permanent university teachers, 153 temporary university teachers, and 80 temporary university teachers. Recently, over 90 new university teachers joined the university to help increase research in the region.

The staff and teachers works at six campuses: three in the city of Crato (Pimenta, São Miguel and São Francisco), two in the city of Juazeiro do Norte (CRAJUBAR and Pirajá), and one in Santana do Cariri, where the Paleontology Museum is located. This museum is one of the most important collections of fossils from Cretaceous period.
Today, the university has 33 undergraduated, master’s, and PhD programs. There are also 45 postgraduate courses, four special teacher training programs, and two residencies: one in Multiprofessional Collective Health and the other in Obstetric Nursing.

## History

URCA started with courses in Economic Sciences, Law, and Civil Construction Technology from the State University of Ceará (UECE), and courses from the Padre Ibiapina Foundation (Crato Faculty of Philosophy) in Natural History, Geography, Literature, and Pedagogy.

From its creation until 2019, URCA graduated 20,993 students: 18,285 from Crajubar (Crato and Juazeiro), 1,806 from the Iguatu campus, 194 from the Missão Velha campus, and 708 from the Campos Sales campus. URCA also trained 302 students in the Freire Platform program (National Basic Education Teacher Training Plan, PARFOR) and 207 students in the special pedagogical training program, with locations across the region.

In 33 years, URCA improved its buildings and expanded the Crajubar and Pimenta campuses. Teacher training started in 1990. Today, the teaching staff includes 140 doctors, 140 masters, 44 specialists, and 6 with undergraduate degrees.

URCA is the only Brazilian university with a UNESCO-recognized geopark, the Araripe Geopark. It also has one of Brazil’s leading paleontology museums, the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Paleontology Museum. The university also has a Legal Practice Center and an Accessibility Center.

## Rectors and Vice-Rectors

|Rector|Vice-Rector|Years|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Antônio Martins Filho||1986–1987|
|José Teodoro Soares|Gonçalo Farias Filho|1987–1990|
|Manuel Edmilson do Nascimento|Gonçalo Farias Filho|1990–1996|
|Maria Violeta Arraes de Alencar Gervaiseau|Plácido Cidade Nuvens|1996–2003|
|André Luiz Herzog Cardoso|José Nilton de Figueiredo|2003–2007|
|Plácido Cidade Nuvens|Antônia Otonite de Oliveira Cortez|2007–2011|
|Otonite de Oliveira Cortez|José Patrício Pereira de Melo|2011–2015|
|José Patrício Pereira Melo|Francisco do O´ de Lima Júnior|2015–2019|
|**Francisco do O´ de Lima Júnior**|Carlos Kleber Nascimento de Oliveira|2019–Current|