By Michela DellaMonica, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL — State officials in Rio de Janeiro along with the Department of Science and Technology and the Foundation for Support of the School of Technology (Fundação de Apoio à Escola Técnica, FAETEC), inaugurated the tenth School of Technology (Faculdade de Educação Tecnológica, FAETERJ) this July in the city of Barra Mansa. The institution is the first higher education in Barra Mansa, which received an investment of R$2.6 million.
Built with modular technology, FAETERJ Barra Mansa took less time to construct and at a lower cost from it original investment goal of R$5.5 million. It is 1,105 square meters with eight classrooms and two laboratories, one in computer science and another in architecture and network, with simulation of manufacturing systems with specialized software.
Fifty percent of the students attending the school are those who passed the public higher education entrance exam and the other half will be those who passed the National Secondary Education Examination (ENEM) in 2013. There will be 152 open seats for the ‘Technology in Internet Systems’ course with a focus on digital entrepreneurship, a three year program.
Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão states that Barra Mansa has had an increase in higher educational efforts the past eight years with the new school inauguration. “Investments in education are great. […] the new school here in Barra Mansa brings vocational education and higher education,” says Pezão.
“FAETERJ will cause a great impact to the city of Barra Mansa and a great opportunity for young people here to obtain quality higher education, says Secretary of Science and Technology, Tande Vieira. “The FAETERJ is an efficient tool offering focus courses on what the market needs,” concludes Vieira.
An additional five Schools of Technology under the FAETEC umbrella should be open by the end of this year in the Rio cities of Barra do Pirai, Saquarema, Campos dos Goytacazes, Niterói and São João de Meriti. “The FAETEC gives residents the opportunity to have inside access to education,” said the president of FAETEC, Maria Cristina Lacerda.
The mayor of Barra Mansa, Jonas Marins, highlighted the investments for the city stating the digital entrepreneurship course that will be developed here is a fantastic employment opportunity for the students once completed. As a result, the 22,000 students of the municipal network have the opportunity to study and enjoy the program for free.
For professor and resident of Barra Mansa, Heloiza Helena dos Santos, this university is a huge gain for the city. “This university will bring quality education to Barra Mansa,” says dos Santos.
The city of Barra Mansa is an hour and a half north west of the city center of Rio de Janeiro. It was the coffee production hub of the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1857 and was part of the industrial revolution in Rio de Janeiro from the 1930s to the mid 1950s. The hills and mountainous landscape is an attraction for people during the winter season as a vacation destination.