Brazil needs to have a USP in each state, says Lula – 01/25/2024 – Education

When participating in the celebration of the 90th anniversary of USP (University of São Paulo), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said that he will work so that each Brazilian state has a public university of excellence like the São Paulo institution, which leads the rankings international academics.

The president traveled to São Paulo this Thursday (25) to participate in the event at Sala São Paulo, in the center of the capital of São Paulo. Despite USP’s ties to the São Paulo Executive, governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) did not go. From the first level of his team, only the Secretary of Science and Technology, Vahan Agopyan, who was rector of USP, was present.

Applauded upon being announced, the president attended the event alongside the first lady, sociologist Rosângela da Silva, Janja, and his deputy, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and his wife, Lu Alckmin.

There were also various authorities there, such as the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Dias Toffoli, who studied law at USP, and the couple Fernando and Ana Estela Haddad, Minister of Finance and Secretary of Information and Digital Health at the Ministry of Health, both professors at the institution and responsible for encouraging Lula’s participation in the celebration.

Other ministers at Esplanada Lulista were Camilo Santana (Education), Nísia Trindade (Health), Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations), Silvio Almeida (Human Rights and Citizenship) and Paulo Teixeira (Agrarian Development).

Lula said he was very grateful for the contributions he received indirectly from USP. “Although I didn’t have the opportunity to study at USP, I was greatly helped by men and women who graduated from USP. For this, I am very grateful to this university.”

When highlighting USP’s excellence and its leadership position not only in Brazil, but in Latin America, Lula said he demanded from the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, so that the country can have more institutions at the international top.

“Having just USP at the top of the world rankings is very little. I asked Camilo, he said we need more. We can have a USP in each state. We can have many other universities among the first in the world. Let’s no longer waste our chances of investing in education”, said Lula.

The president stated that he wants to expand access to higher education in Brazil. “We democratized access to higher education, with the expansion of universities and federal institutes. We went from 3.5 million students to 8 million. It’s still very little if we want to improve this country. It’s a lot, but it’s still very little .”

He also spoke about the importance of the quota policy, implemented in 2013 at federal universities, but which only reached USP in 2018. “Today more than half of USP’s students came from public schools. USP is now showing that to be part of the cradle of knowledge, you don’t need to be born in a cradle of gold”, added the PT member.

The president also highlighted that the last few years have been an attack on the university, scientific production and education as a whole. “Fortunately, that time is behind us.”

During his speech, Lula recalled that, in addition to USP’s anniversary, January 25th also marks the day of the first Diretas Já rally. “This is an important date, when Brazil began to regain its democracy” .