page_title: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
section_title: Rio de Janeiro
hierarchical_section_title: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro / Campuses / Rio de Janeiro
caption_attribution_description: Português: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Sociais da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Largo de São Francisco de Paula, cidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
context_page_description: The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil is a public university in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. UFRJ is the largest federal university in the country and is one of the Brazilian centers of excellence in teaching and research. In terms of scientific, artistic and cultural productions it is recognized nationally and internationally due to the great teachers, researchers, reviews and assessments made by international agencies. In 2017 QS World University Rankings ranked UFRJ as the best Brazilian federal university, as well as the third best university in the country occupying the seventh position among institutions of Latin America. In 2016 and 2017 the Ranking Universitário Folha ranked UFRJ as the best university in Brazil and the best Federal University in the country. The Center for World University Rankings published in 2017 UFRJ as the second best university in the world in Zoology field.
  Brazil's first official higher education institution, it has operated continuously since 1792, when the "Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho" was founded, and served as basis for the country's college system since its officialization in 1920.
context_section_description: The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's main infrastructure is the College City, located at and occupying almost all of Ilha do Fundão (Backyard Island), northern Rio de Janeiro. The island was artificially created in 1950 by the union of various already existing islands through embankment techniques. Academic activities in the campus, however, would only start in 1970, and the initial project stated that all active courses would be transferred to the City. Architecture was hugely influenced by modernism and some designs were even awarded, such as the rectory building (designed by Jorge Machado Moreira and awarded at the "IV Bienal de São Paulo").
  The campus has a residence complex for undergraduate students (504 rooms), three university restaurants (commonly called "bandejões", or "big trays"), a sports center, and banking agencies. In 2010, there was the opening of an integration station for the unified college transport system, aiming for more security and comfort to the college community. Dozens of 24/7 inter-campus bus lines, free for students, are connected to the College City, plus regular urban and intercity lines serving the population of Baixada Fluminense region and of metropolitan Rio de Janeiro.
  
  The campus at Praia Vermelha (Red Beach), locates at Urca, southern Rio, concentrates on courses related mainly to human sciences. Its largest and most historically notable building is the University Pallace, a neoclassical-style premise built between 1842 and 1852 to serve as a hospice, which was inaugurated by emperor Dom Pedro II only ten years later. In 1949, the building was given to the University of Brazil, which then restored and expanded its facilities.
  In downtown Rio de Janeiro, one can find many isolated college units: the College of Law Studies, at Conde dos Arcos Palace, former headquarter of Brazilian senate; the School of Music, planted in the old National Library building since 1913; the Valongo Observatory at the top of "Morro da Conceição" (Conceição Hill); the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Institute of History, both situated in the old National School of Engineering building, at "Largo de São Francisco de Paula".
  In the 2010-2020 UFRJ Master Plan a project was set for conversion of the Praia Vermelha campus into a great cultural center, consequentially transferring almost all of the campus' academic activities, plus that of all of college units scattered throughout Rio, to the College City, thus redeeming the City's original intent of centering all university activities in Ilha do Fundão. The decision has generated strong polemic with both students and staff, given the great distances between southern (Praia Vermelha) and northern (Ilha do Fundão) Rio and the chaotic traffic that plagues the Red Line of João Goulart Freeway - the "jugular" connecting the College City to Rio.
  Aloísio Teixeira, then rector and strong advocate for the integration, argued that the University Palace can bear a circulation of no more than two to three thousand people per day, and that the College City's major problems are not on its structure, but on its access points which are more easily fixable matters. Aiming to solve part of the City's traffic problem, in mid-2010 Rio de Janeiro saw the building of its first cable-stayed bridge, named "Ponte do Saber" (Knowledge Bridge), which was inaugurated in 2012 to receive a daily average of 25,000 vehicles.
caption: Building of both the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Institute of History at "Largo de São Francisco de Paula.
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