The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) has two representatives in the new management of UniRede, an entity that brings together about 70 public institutions of higher education that work with the provision of technical, undergraduate and graduate courses, in the mode of Distance Education, throughout the country. The Secretary of EaD/UFRN, Carmem Rêgo, and the Pedagogical Coordinator of EaD/UFRN, Lilian Giotto Zaros de Medeiros, will occupy positions considered strategic.
For the first time, Professor Lilian Giotto Zaros de Medeiros was elected as the representative of the collaborating associates from the Northeast Region. According to the Pedagogical Coordinator of EaD/UFRN, the expectation is to make the interlocution between the Northeastern higher education institutions with UniRede, besides cooperating with the organization of regional events, such as seminars, and stimulating the realization of network research.
This will be the second consecutive mandate in which Professor Carmem Rêgo, manager of Distance Education at UFRN, will represent the Federal Institutions of Higher Education in this national organization. For Carmem Rêgo, “the articulation of the demands of public universities and institutes is her main mission, besides establishing a constant dialogue about the role of DE in the current scenario”.
The members of the new administration of UniRede, biennium 2022-2023, took office last February 18th. According to the new President of the Association, Elisa Tuler de Albergaria, the partnership with UFRN is consolidated, not only by the brilliant organization of two editions of the Brazilian Congress on Distance Higher Education, in Natal, but also by the opportunity to broaden discussions on transversal themes such as: hybrid teaching, remote teaching and new technologies applied to education.
About UniRede
The Associação Universidade em Rede (UniRede) was created in 1999, as a university consortium, under the name of Universidade Virtual Pública do Brasil. Currently, UniRede operates in three important areas: the evaluation and monitoring of DE processes and projects with the Ministry of Education; the organization of the entity as a scientific society, and also the inter-institutional cooperation and dialogue with public policies and the networking philosophy.
Bruno Cássio – Communication Advisor at SEDIS/UFRN.
The Distance Education Department of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (SEDIS/UFRN) is in the process of institutional articulation for the offer of 1,440 new vacancies in the 10 distance learning undergraduate courses offered by the University: Public Administration, Biological Sciences, Physical Education, Physics, Geography, History, Languages, Mathematics, Pedagogy and Chemistry. This opportunity was opened by Announcement 09/2022, released last week by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
The announcement provides a total of 156,120 vacancies for public institutions of higher education all over the country, which operate in the EaD modality, under the Open University of Brazil Program (UAB). According to the UFRN Distance Education Secretary, Carmem Rêgo, “as in the last selection processes, the selection will be based on the scores of the National High School Exam, and the vacancies are expected to open in the second semester of 2022”.
For Joseani Martins, Coordinator of the Presential Support Center of Luís Gomes, a town in the upper west of Potiguar, about 470 kilometers from Natal, the possibility of new openings in distance learning courses will “expand teacher training and strengthen the role of a renowned university, such as UFRN, in the town. The improvement in the quality of public education was also highlighted by Joseani Martins, as a consequence of the access of educators to free higher education courses.
In the Agreste Region of Rio Grande do Norte, the city of Nova Cruz is a reference in Higher Education for housing a UFRN campus. According to Wellington Marcelino de Brito, Teaching Assistant at that pole, “the opening of new openings for EaD/UFRN will bring the certainty that many young people from the city and surrounding regions will have the opportunity to get a professional education at a renowned university”.
The Coordinator of the Presential Support Center of Caicó, Tânia Cristina Meira Garcia, speaks of the expectation for the entrance of students: “the entrance of new students, for the formation of teachers and professionals of Basic Education, consolidates the importance of Distance Education, confirmed, above all, in this period of social isolation”. Tânia Cristina also points out that the center, which is located inside the Centro de Ensino Superior do Seridó (CERES), serves students from almost 14 cities in the states of Pernambuco, Paraiba, and Pernambuco.
Click here and learn more about CAPES’s Edital 09/2022.
Bruno Cássio – Communication Advisor of SEDIS/UFRN
The Secretary of Distance Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Carmem Rêgo, recently arrived from Lisbon, where she participated in an extensive work agenda in order to strengthen partnerships with the Open University (UAb) of Portugal. Founded in 1988, UAb is the only public distance higher education institution in that country.
Since 2018, UFRN has been developing collaborative work with the Open University of Portugal. According to Carmem Rêgo, in conversations with the rector of the Portuguese institution, Carla Padrel, it was discussed the UAb’s adherence to the Virtual Student Academic Mobility Program, coordinated by the University in Network Association (UniRede) and which has UFRN as one of the signatories.
Also according to UFRN’s EaD Secretary, commitments were signed for the Brazilian university to join the Distance Education Association of Portuguese Speaking Countries and for the development of new Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) by the two institutions. “The UAb is recognized as one of the most important in the European Union and the bilateral cooperation agreements bring relevant results to the teaching and research of the two universities,” concluded Carmen Rêgo.
Besides these actions, UFRN’s EaD Secretary was part of the committee, led by the executive director of the Laboratory for Technological Innovation in Health (Lais/UFRN), Ricardo Valentim, who contributed with the evaluation of the International Cooperation with UAb/PT, in the scope of the Project “Syphilis No!”, executed by Lais/UFRN, the Ministry of Health, and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO). Valentim is the general coordinator of the project, while Carmem Rêgo is the vice-coordinator.
The dean of UAb/PT, Carla Padrel, highlights that the areas of health and sustainability have been explored in this relationship with UFRN, whether in MOOC format courses, or in master’s and doctorate courses. For the Portuguese leader, “these advanced training courses of innovative and global nature emerge from the Luso-Brazilian intellectual and academic space, constituting excellent examples of the scientific and human value of transatlantic cooperation between two institutions for which distance education is a factor of proximity.
Bruno Cássio – Communication Advisor of SEDIS/UFRN.
Born in the capital of Rio Grande do Norte, Esiêdla Pereira de Andrade, 37, found in Lajes, a city about 125 kilometers from Natal, the starting point for graduating in the distance learning Geography degree course by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. The site is home to the Presential Support Center, which houses the infrastructure to help students during the days of group or individual academic activities.
For Esiêdla Andrade, distance learning means having the autonomy to develop her own methods that encourage and facilitate learning: “I was able to harmoniously combine my studies and my work, without trauma or stress. The dedication had an effect; on the day of her graduation, November 23, 2021, Esiêdla received, live, the announcement that she had been awarded the prize.
“Besides being surprised, it is very gratifying to have UFRN’s recognition of our efforts and challenges during our 4-year trajectory,” she said, talking about the feeling of receiving the academic laurel. Now, her plans are to acquire more knowledge in the area so that she can be an increasingly qualified professional who is attentive to the needs of her students and the school community.
Chemistry at Costa Branca
The city of Macau, on the Costa Branca, is the main producer of sea salt in Brazil and of oil in Rio Grande do Norte. It was there where Thiago Winicio Rocha Lima, his family’s first college graduate, was born. A recent graduate in distance learning Chemistry, he recalls the main difficulties during the study period: “being faithful to the schedules I created for myself and to the dates of tests and assignments”.
Also according to Thiago Winicio, this is the second undergraduate degree he has completed in the EaD modality. The first was a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, in 2015, also from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte: “being able to also study Chemistry, in this modality, was a dream, since I love this science and for eight years I’ve been working in the area as a chemistry technician at Petrobras”.
Upon receiving his academic degree on the afternoon of November 19, 2021, at UFRN’s Central Campus in Natal, Thiago says he had to explain to his parents what it was all about, because they didn’t have the dimension of the importance of that moment. “The passion for Chemistry made me have discipline and dedication to the subjects, read each page of the textbooks with attention, trying to assimilate each concept, I gave my maximum to be different”, he said when affirming that the next step, in the academic career, will be to apply for a place in a master’s course.
Bruno Cássio – Communication Advisor of SEDIS/UFRN.
