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ContentsTHE BUILDING OF A POST-GRADUATE PROGRAMME
BASED ON PARTNERSHIP
ABSTRACT
This paper describes the experience of building a post-graduate programme in Electrical Engineering in the Brazilian State of Maranhão, one of the poorest in the country and, as such, with great social inequalities. The objective is to show that a region in want of even the most basic needs can benefit in multiple ways, in short, medium and long terms, from the creation of a research center. It is also shown that, by changing the way science has been regarded in Maranhão and by gaining the support of various institutions, a project of this magnitude can be made viable in a region as the one described in this work.
INTRODUCTION
The state of Maranhão, located both in the so-called Legal Amazon and in the Northeast region of Brazil, has been one of the poorest in the country for decades. Until the end of last century, Maranhão was a large producer of cotton, sugar cane and, in a smaller scale, cattle, but, due to the industrialization process that started to take place in the distant south and south-east of Brazil in the beginning of this century, plantation in Maranhão became uneconomical and gradually disappeared. Despite the growing production of rice and babaçu oil, the economy in the region became virtually stagnated, with very little industrialization and agricultural development, until the late seventies [1]. The social indicators are far from encouraging; illiteracy and child mortality rate are high and there is little infrastructure outside its capital and some medium-sized towns.
The 1980 decade saw a turn in terms of industrialization in Maranhão, one of the last states to be reached by modern capitalism, with the establishment of two large scale production, high technology enterprises: Alumar, an Aluminum consortium headed by the North-American company Alcoa, and Vale do Rio Doce, a huge Brazilian company, owner of most of the mineral reserves in the country, both making use of a highly qualified workforce.
In recent times the Brazilian Space Programme has increased its activities in the region, with the launching of a series of space probes from the Alcantara Space Centre (CLA). This was selected for being situated within one degree from the magnetic equator, where a rich activity of phenomena occur. Experiments require multiple observations, which will be carried out by a consortium between NASA and the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE). It is believed that the experiments will produce data of high scientific interest over a vast range of still unknown phenomena, as well as contribute for a better understanding of space physics around the magnetic equator. It is expected that this project will last for 25 to 30 years, with Alcantara as its main base for experiments.
While engineering courses in Brazil have served the nation quite well, the undergraduate course in Electrical Engineering at the Federal University of Maranhão (DEE-UFMA), which started in the beginning of the 80's, is some 15 years behind other similar courses in Brazil with respect to the qualification of lecturers. Before the start of the post-graduate programme, the great majority of lecturers in the Department of Electrical Engineering held at most an M.Sc. degree, and a couple of years back former students who had just finished the undergraduate course were still enrolled as lecturers. Of course there was neither any tradition of research, nor of lecturers keeping track of the advances occurring in the various fields of Electrical Engineering (as a matter of comparison, almost all lecturers in the best Electrical Engineering Departments in Brazil hold a Ph.D. degree).
It is not difficult to realise that the university was unable to attend to the needs of the still not very large but high-technology industrial sector referred to above. Those companies had to look in other parts of the country for more qualified engineers (and administrators), who were either enrolled by them or hired as consultants.
The alternative for graduates who wanted to pursue further education was to leave for more advanced centres, mainly in the Southeast and South of Brazil. Those who left very rarely came back, since the university did not constitute an alternative for somebody willing to do research.
All those elements characterised a vicious circle: the needs of the industrial sector were not fulfilled by the university, and in this, in turn, the academic sector was out of date in terms of science and technology and showed no motivation to force the university to leave its state of stagnation.
BREAKING THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
The region could not find a changing agent capable of breaking the vicious circle and of modifying the university-society-companies/industries relationship. The solution was to make use of external agents who could initiate an organised and viable process of changes giving origin to a quality leap to meet this new challenge Several questions needed to be answered, as, for example, how to improve the quality of life, how to create mechanisms of job generation, and whether it is possible to have a permanent solution to these problems and not only palliative ones.
It was believed that the solution could only be obtained through the qualification of professionals, so that these could assess and solve regional problems, and through the constant introduction of new technologies in the industrial activities in the region. This would naturally lead to the creation of small companies and enterprises, and, therefore, of more jobs. With this objective, a project called Programme for the Formation of Leaders in Industrial Technology in the State of Maranhão was devised. Its main objective is to qualify human resources in the State of Maranhão, so that they can bring about policies and actions in Industrial Technology. This programme is a result of a co-operation between the University, the local Federation of Industries, the Foundation for the Support of Research in Maranhão (FAPEMA), another Foundation linked to the University and SUDENE, a federal body for the development of the Northeast.
The Programme started with the creation of a post-graduate course at the Dept. of Electrical Engineering of the Federal University of Maranhão (DEE/UFMA) [2], which officially began its activities in March 1995, when the first admission of students occurred. With this programme, it is expected that:
Before we start to describe the building of the Post-Graduate Programme, it may be relevant to address a question: why investing in a post-graduate programme in a region where even the basic needs are not attended to? The answer is that the simple presence of high-technology companies in the region will not create a technological and scientific basis for further development. The few qualified human resources found in Maranhão usually left the region searching for better opportunities and working conditions in the south of Brazil. The post-graduate programme would, at first, help fix engineers in the region; these would then be able to interact with local companies, reducing therefore the inflow of qualified professionals from other regions. Another aspect is that many of the prospective post-graduate students come from other departments of UFMA, as well as from a Federal Centre of Technological Education, which holds a high degree course in Engineering. For many reasons these professionals would not leave Maranhão for higher degree studies; now they would be given the opportunity to get at least an M.Sc. degree 'at home'. This is very important, since the quality of the courses they organise and teach will certainly improve. The professionals coming out from the institutions will also be better prepared to tackle regional problems.
THE POST GRADUATE PROGRAMME
Within the initiative of creating a post-graduate programme, the first step to be taken was to attract to UFMA, from different parts of the country and from abroad, a group of Ph.Ds who would be responsible for its implementation.
The involvement of FAPEMA in the Programme for the Formation of Leaders in Industrial Technology in the State of Maranhão was of great importance; first, because it represented the commitment of the State of Maranhão to the initiative; second, because it provided the financial means for attracting to UFMA experienced lecturers from more developed areas of Brazil and from abroad, as well as providing scholarships for post-graduate students in the first year. It was clear from the beginning that qualified lecturers/researchers would leave their posts and come to Maranhão only through an advantageous financial package. The Ministry of Education was sensible to the project and allocated 10 positions of Visiting Lecturers to UFMA. These Visiting Lecturers were given 4-year contracts, with the promise of being given the opportunity to become permanent lecturers, with the status of public servants, within that period. In any case, a 4-year period should suffice for the objective of 'kicking-off' the programme. From the 10 researchers attracted to UFMA, five came from Brazilian top universities, three from Great-Britain and two from France. These joined two permanent lecturers at the DEE and one at the Computer Science Dept., forming a group of 13 Ph.D's who would then start building the post-graduate programme.
In Brazil the body that regulates post-graduate programmes is the Federal Agency CAPES, which is under the Ministry of Education. A thorough project has to be submitted to it, which makes use of referees belonging to the scientific community for the evaluation of proposals. Once the course is recommended it can be allocated scholarships. After two years, and every year thereafter, the course is evaluated and given a grade, which takes into account the number of theses produced per lecturer per year and scientific publications, among other parameters. Therefore, in the creation of a post-graduate programme in Brazil, the first task is to elaborate the so-called Implementation Project. It should be made clear that, even if CAPES or a similar body did not exist, a Project would be essential for putting on paper, in an organised manner, all the academic plans, rules, financial necessities, laboratories lay-outs, etc.
The main idea behind the building of the programme was that of a partnership, both with other institutions and, more importantly, with the industrial sector [3]. With respect to institutions, a close collaboration with other universities and research centres in Brazil and abroad would be sought. This would provide the necessary vitality to the initiating programme, as well as enable resources to be shared. The partnership with industry would be expressed in a number of ways; for example, professionals belonging to companies could take post-graduate courses and, depending on their interest and time availability, write up a dissertation and qualify for a Master degree; or, the new lecturers/researchers could interact with the companies to solve problems of common interest. Moreover, the qualification of human resources would enable an in-depth discussion of regional problems and, in consequence, viable and innovative solutions to those problems might appear. The areas of vital interest to the region, either in purely industrial or in research aspects, are Automation and Control, Electric Power Systems and Computer Science, of which some details follow.
Automation and Control. This constitutes a very important area in the world today, and the same applies to Maranhão. Companies are or would like to become highly automatised, so that this is a very rich area for joint research projects. Moreover, Control has become a very large topic, with applications in several fields.
Courses in this area include Linear System Theory, Optimal, Adaptive and Fuzzy Control, Control of Distributed Systems/Parallel Processing, Applications of Neural Networks to Automation and Sensors, Actuators and Converters. When establishing the courses, it was deemed necessary first to give students a solid background in Modern Control Theory and then allow them to choose their research areas.
Lines of Research: Application of Adaptive Systems in Communications and Control, Fuzzy Control, Distributed Decision and Control, Distributed Computing for Automation, Optimisation and Optimal Control, Processing of Electrical Energy
Computer Science. The importance that Computer Science has acquired throughout the world today is undeniable. Optimisation of industrial processes, computer-aided project development and the growth of automation are some of the reasons for including Computer Science as one of the key areas in the Post-Graduate Programme. There is a strong interaction between Computer Science and the other areas in the Programme; this is shown by the projects that have been initiated in co-operation with the industrial sector.
Lines of research: Advanced Data-base Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Image Processing, Vision and Computer Graphics, Knowledge based Management Systems, Neural Systems, Object Oriented Programming
Electric Power Systems. This area is of great importance for the region, since Brazil is planning to explore the hydroelectric power of rivers in the Amazon. Studies have to be carried out regarding minimisation of costs of electricity generation and transmission, which, for distant areas, will be of DC type. There will also be distribution problems to be assessed and the local electricity companies will need help from qualified professionals. Besides, the electrical distribution system in the state of Maranhão is still in need of more reliability. The main topics of research are Optimal Power Flow, Voltage Stability and Reliability. The main interaction occurs with the local Electricity Distribution Company (CEMAR) and with Eletronorte, the North-Northeast branch of the National Electricity Company ELETROBRÁS.
Lines of Research: Optimal Power Flow, Voltage Stability, Reliability, On-line Methods for Evaluation of Transient Stability and Security Enhancement.
THE ACTION PLAN
The implementation project was elaborated in such a way that the programme could be started with a minimum amount of resources and little infra-structure. A consistent implementation agenda defined "when" (and "how much") new resources should be available and efforts were not spared in the search for financial resources, so as to avoid changes to that agenda.
In the Programme implementation key actions to be taken were defined. Some of them should yield short-term results, whereas others were part of a long-term plan. During the first few years, accomplishments have been and will be assessed and actions can be refined or even re-defined. The evaluation of the Programme makes use of 'milestones', so that its progress within the post-graduate courses panorama in Brazil can be measured.
The short-term and long-term plans consisted of the following activities:
Short-term
The first three above may appear obvious, but in the context of the University of Maranhão such necessities are far from simple to fulfil. The last one deserves some comments: we were sure of what we needed in terms of infra-structure and laboratory facilities, but our projects had to fit in strategies and programmes established by institutions, mostly governmental, that provide financial support.
Long-term
This plan consists of activities directed to the Programme's consolidation, a well as to its recognition by regional, national and international scientific communities. The actions taken involve the following aspects:
FIRST RESULTS
The Post-Graduate Programme is entering its third year now and some encouraging results have already been observed. This can be easily shown if the situations before and after the Programme installation, in 1994, are compared.
CURRENT SITUATION
The rate of students concluding successfully their studies, with respect to the number of students enrolled in the first and second years, can be currently predicted as 70 % and 90% respectively (M Sc. courses in Brazil take 2-2 ½ years to be completed). Several research projects aim for the solution of regional problems, in the fields of energy, medicine and education. The exchange programme has already produced its first results: two lecturers from England and one from France have been at UFMA to develop joint activities with local ones. A multi-institutional research group in the field of Computer Science, involving the two countries referred to above, is also being formed.
On the other hand, the Department has started a programme for the improvement of its human resources; currently eight lecturers are enrolled in Ph.D. courses at other universities. Another important initiative is that the Visiting Lecturers wil have the opportunity to become permanent ones later this year. It is estimated that the number of lecturers holding a Ph.D. or equivalent degree by 1999 will be about 20.
CONCLUSION
The results obtained so far demonstrate that a partnership between the State, the industrial sector and the university can be extremely useful for developing programmes and projects, especially in underdeveloped regions of the country. With respect to the Post-Graduate Course in Electrical Engineering at UFMA, its creation has caused a positive impact in the Department, in the University as a whole and at the State level.
The constitution of a task force of Ph.Ds, who came from several parts of the country and from abroad, was a fundamental aspect for the success of the project. This shows that, even without the necessary infra-structure, an initial investment in human resources can make viable a project like the one described here.
It is believed that a great percentage of the so-called critical period in the implementation process has been overcome. The response of institutions for the support of research have been adequate, enabling the building of a good array of facilities. There has also been a strong demand for places in the Post-Graduate Programme. That demand comes, as expected, from newly graduated professionals, and, perhaps more significantly, from professionals belonging to companies and universities who only now are given the opportunity of pursuing higher qualification.
The growing confidence of the industrial sector in the Post-Graduate Programme, demonstrated by the will of establishing joint projects and by the release of employees to attend post-graduate courses, favours an even stronger interaction between the two; this relationship shall shortly reach a high degree of maturity.
REFERENCES
[1] Tsuji, T. "The State of Maranhão in 2007" (in Portuguese), EDUFMA, 1993, São Luís, MA, Brazil.
[2] Implementation Project of The Post-Graduate Programme in Electric Engineering at UFMA (in Portuguese), UFMA, October 1994, São Luís, MA, Brazil.
[3] Rosenthal, D., Meira, S. "The First 15 Years of the Brazilian Policy for Informatics" (in Portuguese), CNpq, 1995.