Federal University of Espírito Santo

The Federal University of Espirito Santo (or in Portuguese, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo or UFES) was founded in 1954 through a bill proposed by Governor Jones dos Santos Neves.

UFES is the largest higher education institution in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo and is located in the city of Vitoria. It was officially federalised in 1961, while Juscelino Kubitschek was President of Brazil.

Its Latin motto is “docete omnes gentes” meaning “teach all people” in English or “ensinai todas as pessoas” in Portuguese. It has approximately 22,500 students, of whom 20,000 are undergraduates and 2,500 are postgraduates. It offers students the opportunity to choose from 105 undergraduate courses, 58 master degree courses and 26 PhD courses.

It has four campuses: Goiabeiras (home to its administrative headquarters), Maruípe located in the state capital city of Vitória, and one each in the municipalities of Alegre (in southern Espirito Santo) and Sao Mateus (in northern Espirito Santo).

UFES is home to a theatre which is the largest and most modern in the state, as well as a cinema, art galleries, a language centre, libraries, a planetarium, an astronomy observatory, auditoriums and sports centres.

Espirito Santo’s main public health facility, the university hospital Cassiano Antonio Moraes (HUCAM), offers medium and high complexity medical care and is a training base for the university’s medical students. It is committed to offering free education as a public asset, operating on principles of ethics, democracy and transparency and ensuring the interaction and partnership with wider society.