Strategic planning for the 2017-2020 quadrennium
The grade 6 in the last CAPES assessment brought great responsibilities to PPGETI-UFC, as we are the only graduate program with this grade in the Engineering IV evaluation area in the North (N), Northeast (NE) and Midwest (CO) from Brazil. In order to understand the importance of this achievement, the other graduate program considered of excellence in the Northeast region is the electrical engineering program of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), in Paraíba, which is already traditional and ranks 7. In short, there are only two graduate programs of international excellence in the entire N, NE and CO of the country. This puts us in the position of always wanting to grow and represent Ceará, the Northeast region and Brazil well in terms of cutting-edge research, innovation and development (R&I&D) in international terms.
The impact of Grade 6 was felt almost immediately, as we began to receive a greater demand from newcomers to our program, both domestic and foreign. We can mention recent foreign students from Pakistan (Fazal-E-Asim), Germany (Christoph Enneking and Mikus Janis Grasis), Cuba (Yosbel Rodriguez Ortega) and Guinea-Bissau (Ildo Ramos Vieira). Furthermore, we can also mention an Iranian researcher and a Swedish researcher doing postdoctoral work with us.
Thus, as actions that we will take towards achieving grade 7 in the next CAPES assessment, we highlight the following:
- Continue actions aimed at increasing international cooperation networks;
- Improve the conditions of research and development infrastructure for the program’s students;
- Promote periodic self-assessment actions involving the faculty and students of our program;
- Promote actions to evaluate our program to be carried out by international researchers who visit us on technical missions;
- Maintain the trend observed in the increase in the number of publications by the Program’s professors and students in international journals in the A1 and A2 QUALIS/CAPES extract;
- Promote the internationalization of professors and students through doctoral-sandwich programs and postdoctoral programs abroad, foreign visiting professors and short-term technical visits to partner institutions abroad;
- Expand the offer of lectures, seminars and short courses taught in English by foreign researchers who make up our faculty or are visiting our program.
Although we have consolidated partnerships with European countries such as France and Germany, we intend to expand our international cooperation network to Asian countries such as China and Japan, as well as to the United States. In addition, the Program has a project to encourage post-doctoral internships abroad to allow for such growth in a sustainable manner.
Aiming to increase the number of students entering the program with the potential to develop research in its different lines, PPGETI has worked over the years with profiles in related areas such as Physics, Mathematics, Statistics, among others, aiming to attract professionals from these areas to develop works in the Program’s areas of interest, having obtained excellent results over the last few years. We intend to continue this initiative. Finally, the continued encouragement of the participation of professors in scientific organizations and international committees is also part of our planning.
