Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) revokes accreditation of Gama Filho and UniverCidade.
Low academic quality, financial difficulties, and a lack of a "viable plan" for restructuring led the Ministry of Education to revoke the accreditation of Gama Filho University and Univercidade, two of the best-known institutions in the sector; students will be transferred to other schools starting next week; new courses from both brands will no longer be valid; Aloizio Mercadante assumes his role as sheriff.
Mariana Tokarnia
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia - The Ministry of Education (MEC) today (13) revoked the accreditation of Gama Filho University (UGF) and the University Center of the City (UniverCidade), both based in Rio de Janeiro. The decision was taken by the superior collegiate body of the Secretariat for Regulation and Supervision of Higher Education (Seres). According to the ministry, the reasons were the low academic quality, the serious compromise of the economic and financial situation of the maintaining entity and the lack of a viable plan to overcome the problem, in addition to the growing precariousness of the offer of higher education.
Students from both institutions will all be transferred. According to the Ministry of Education (MEC), within five business days, the Secretariat for Higher Education and Social Development (Seres) will publish a notice inviting higher education institutions in Rio de Janeiro that are interested and able to receive regularly enrolled students in order to guarantee the continuity of their education, the recognition of their studies, their continued participation in federal higher education access programs, and satisfactory quality of education that is economically compatible for students undergoing academic transfer. The publication of the notice will initiate the assisted transfer process.
The controversies involving Gama Filho and UniverCidade began in 2012, when the Ministry of Education (MEC) initiated a supervisory process based on allegations of irregularities, academic deficiencies, and financial insufficiency related to the beginning of the Galileo group's management.
In early 2013, with the process underway and new controllers taking over the Galileo Group, the crisis in the institutions worsened with the outbreak of strikes by teachers, staff, and students due to unpaid salaries and the deterioration of teaching conditions in both institutions.
Given the institution's failure to comply with the agreed-upon Remediation Agreement, the Ministry of Education (MEC) initiated administrative proceedings in December 2013 to apply penalties, with a 15-day period for defense. After the defense was presented, the ministry analyzed the statement and other elements of the supervision and concluded that both institutions should be de-accredited in order to preserve the interests of students and society in quality higher education.
Students from Gama Filho University were in Brasília last week to request that the institution not be de-accredited and that the government intervene in the university.
On the Seres portal, those interested can obtain more information about the assisted transfer policy. Questions can also be clarified by calling the MEC's toll-free number: 0800-616161.