The Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA) (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: Cariri Regional University) is a Brazilian state public university with its administrative headquarters in the city of Crato, with other campuses in the city of

Juazeiro do Norte Juazeiro do Norte is a city in the state of Ceará state in northeastern Brazil. It is located 491 km south of the state capital Fortaleza in the semiarid sertão. The municipality has a population of 276,264 (2020 official estimate) and co ...

and decentralized units in

Iguatu Iguatu is a city in Ceará, a Brazilian State, with a population of 103,074 (2020 est.). Edinaldo Lavor is the city's mayor. History A village of Quixelôs Indians existed at this site before the arrival of the Portuguese. In 1707 the Society o ...

Campos Sales Manoel Ferraz de Campos Salles (; 15 February 1841 – 28 June 1913) was a Brazilian lawyer, coffee farmer, and politician who served as the fourth president of Brazil. He was born in the city of Campinas, São Paulo. He graduated as a law ...

and

Missão Velha Missão Velha is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the states of Brazil, state of Ceará in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Ceará References

Municipalities in Cea ...

. Additionally, it encompasses the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Paleontology Museum in

Santana do Cariri Santana do Cariri is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. It is located in the immediate and intermediate region of Juazeiro do Norte, as well as in the region of influence of Juazeiro do Norte.The municipality ...

. URCA serves an academic community of approximately 12,500 students from around 111 municipalities in the states of

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

and

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

, distributed between

undergraduate education Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

, special programs and ''

lato sensu Lato () was an ancient city of Crete, the ruins of which are located approximately 3 km from the village of Kritsa. History The Dorian city-state was built in a defensible position overlooking Mirabello Bay between two peaks, both of ...

postgraduate education Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...

. It was created by State Law No. 11.191, of June 9, 1986, in the form of a special regime autarchy and authorized by Decree No. 94.016, of February 11, 1987. It was officially installed on March 7, 1987. It is part of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Higher Education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

System and is linked to the Department of

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

Technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

. The staff composition includes 238 technical-administrative employees, both permanent and outsourced, 371 permanent professors, 153 temporary professors, and 80 substitute professors. With the latest public competition, the admission of over 90 professors was approved, the majority of whom joined the university with extension projects to increase the number of researchers in the region. These employees, staff, and professors are distributed across six

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

es: three in the municipality of Crato (Pimenta, São Miguel, and São Francisco), two in the municipality of

(CRAJUBAR and Pirajá), and one in

, where the

Paleontology Museum Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

operates. This museum showcases one of the most important reserves of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period. Today, the university has 33 undergraduate,

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

programs. There are also 45 postgraduate courses, four Special Pedagogical Training Programs and two residencies, one in Multiprofessional Collective Health and the other in Obstetric Nursing.

History

URCA began its activities with courses in

Economic Sciences Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyses ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

Civil Construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

Technology from the

State University of Ceará State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

(UECE) and courses from the Padre Ibiapina Foundation (Crato Faculty of Philosophy) —

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

Pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. Since its creation until 2019, URCA has graduated 20,993 students, 18,285 from Crajubar (Crato and Juazeiro), 1,806 from the

Decentralized Unit, 194 from the

Municipalities in Cea ...

Decentralized Unit and 708 from the

Decentralized Unit. URCA also trained 302 students in the Freire Platform program, the National Basic Education Teacher Training Plan (PARFOR) and 207 in the undergraduate course of the special pedagogical training program, with poles spread throughout the region. In its 33 years, URCA has modernized its infrastructure and made progress with improvement projects, with the expansion of the Crajubar and Pimenta campuses. Teaching qualifications began in 1990 and currently the teaching staff consists of 140 doctors, 140 masters, 44 specialists and 06 undergraduates. URCA is the only Brazilian university with a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

-recognized

geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...

, the Araripe Geopark, and one of the country's leading paleontology museums, the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Paleontology Museum. It also has a Legal Practice Center and an Accessibility Center.

Rectors and Vice-Rectors

References

{{coord, -7.2381, -39.4159, type:edu_region:BR, display=title State universities in Brazil Education in Ceará Universities and colleges established in 1986 1986 establishments in Brazil