The Centro Universitário da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro (UniverCidade) was 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 ...

institution. Based in the city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, the university center was founded in 1969 and maintained by the Associação Educacional São Paulo Apóstolo, a philanthropic entity controlled by Ronald Levinsohn. It offered

undergraduate 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, ...

courses in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

, exact and

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

areas, and lato sensu and stricto sensu postgraduate programs. It was the third largest private college in Rio de Janeiro and had 35 thousand students.

History

Fraud

According to

Alberto Dines Alberto Dines (February 19, 1932 – May 22, 2018) was a Brazilian journalist and writer. Biography With a career spanning over five decades, Dines directed and launched several magazines and newspapers in Brazil and Portugal. He has taught jou ...

, the institution was used for

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

, covering up the illicit origin of the fortune of businessman Ronald Levinsohn, former controller of UniverCidade. Ronald Levinsohn was rector of the University Center of the City of Rio de Janeiro, which with the Iguaçu University (UNIG) and the

Candido Mendes University Universidade Candido Mendes is a private university located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is Latin America's oldest private university. History It was founded in 1902, thus being the oldest private university in Latin America, by the Count Cân ...

(UCAM) were cited in the request for the establishment of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) in the State

Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro The Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro ( or ''ALERJ'') is the unicameral legislature of the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It has 70 state deputies elected by proportional representation. After the 1834 Additional Act, the Provincial As ...

(ALERJ) to investigate allegations of fraudulent management, illicit enrichment, embezzlement of public resources, money laundering, precarious work relationships, moral harassment, repression of representatives of teachers, students and employees, creation of monopolies, deterioration of quality of teaching, among others. According to ALERJ, the main complaints contained in the Parliamentary Commission's report are delays and lack of payments to employees, as well as

union dues Union dues are regular payments made by workers which grant membership of a trade union. Dues fund the provision of union services such as representation in collective bargaining and education activities. Nearly all unions require their members to ...

, the Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS) and the Service Time Guarantee Fund (FGTS); in

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

, suspicion of fraud and sale of diplomas and lack of regulation by the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

; foreign groups and corporations running private universities in

; irregularities in financial reports; scholarship systems, such as the Higher Education Student Financing Fund (FIES) and the University for All Program (ProUni), awarded to institutions with low ratings according to the evaluation of the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(MEC); abusive increase in monthly fees; and agreements with city halls without public bidding.

De-accreditation by the MEC

In January 2011, it was reported that the institution would lose its administrative autonomy in the Law course, due to consecutive unsatisfactory results in the assessments of the National Student Performance Exam (Enade), which were reflected in the General Course Index (IGC). Therefore, the institution could no longer expand vacancies. UniverCidade received, for three years in a row, grades lower than 3 in the IGC in that course. On January 13, 2014, due to financial problems and the management crisis (including students being left without their documentation in full), the MEC decided to deaccredit UniverCidade. Its owner-operator at the time was Galileo Educacional; another institution managed by Galileo, called Universidade Gama Filho, was shut down at the same time.

Notable alumni

* Cristina Lyra *

Fiorella Mattheis Fiorella Gelli Mattheis (born 10 February 1988) is a Brazilian actress, model, television presenter, entrepreneur and founder and chief executive officer of the startuGringa Biography Fiorella was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. She is of ...

* Geovanna Tominaga *

Sérgio Cabral Filho Sérgio de Oliveira Cabral Santos Filho (born January 27, 1963) is a Brazilian politician and journalist who served as the governor of Rio de Janeiro from 2007 to 2014. A member of MDB, he previously served as the president of the Legislativ ...

https://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/sergiocabral/p1237777017207.html

References

{{coord missing, Brazil Universities in Brazil Universities and colleges established in 1969 1969 establishments in Brazil 2014 disestablishments in Brazil Private universities and colleges in Brazil Brazil university stubs

History

Fraud

De-accreditation by the MEC

Notable alumni

See also

References