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Doctorate Degree

Commitment to high standards of teaching and research

The Doctorate program was conceived twenty years after the Master’s degree, in 1992, with approval by the Council of Education for Undergraduates (CEPG) of UFRJ by process nº 002091/92 -29 on July 13, 1993, and accredited and legitimized by the Ministry of Education and Culture through the National Council of Education, resolution CNE/CES 1/2001, published in DOU April 9, 2001.

The Doctorate program in Geography at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro started with a few students, but soon expanded and attracted a significant number of students, many from outside of Rio de Janeiro. The Doctorate gave greater visibility to the entire Graduate Program, which can be attested by the interest of students from other states and abroad not only to pursue the Doctorate, but also the Master’s degree. Of the foreign students in the program, stand out the students from Latin America – Peru, Colombia, Ecuador –, Africa – Angola, Mozambique –, Canada, and the United States.

At the same time of its conception, the program’s lines of research diversified themselves with the consolidation of new nuclei and research laboratories with projects linked to the different lines of research of the program. The areas of concentration of the GPG were strengthened with new lines of research that followed new interests of professors and research laboratories, broadened by the perspectives opened up by the Doctorate program and the promotion of resources for research.

Areas of Concentration

The Graduate Program in Geography at UFRJ has, since its creation, been constituted of two areas of concentration, meeting the specificities of the areas of Human Geography and Physical Geography. However, it has always been a guiding notion the care not to be strictly subjected to the separation of the two areas, seeking the integration of Geography through integrating actions in courses, seminars, workshops, research projects, among other initiatives. Concentration areas are thus not seen as a dividing line between research and researchers.

With the Doctorate program, the areas of concentration were again reviewed and reconfirmed, remaining two, called, since 1992, “Organization and Management of the Territory”, which follows a human and economic leaning, and “Environmental Planning and Management”, replacing the old nomenclature “Environmental Studies”, which follows a physical, biological, and geomatics leaning. Each of these areas is subdivided in thematic lines, under which the research projects of professors and their students fall. Even if the program is structured in two areas of concentration, there is a concern with the conceptual unity of Geography, observed in integrative activities both in teaching and research.

Course

The curricular structure of the Doctorate Degree comprises 2 (two) Doctorate Seminars, 2 (two) Thematic Courses, and the Special Studies in Geography and Advanced Internship in Geography courses, totalizing 450 (four hundred and fifty) hours.

The Geography Theory course (60 hours) is mandatory for the students that have not attended it during the Master’s Degree in Geography. After the completion of this course, the Thematic Courses, and 2 (two) Doctorate Degree Seminars (90 hours each), the student must attend the Special Studies in Geography course (90 hours) and undertake, up until the 3rd academic term, the Written Qualification Exam, which enables attendance at the Advanced Internship in Geography course (90 hours). The Oral Qualification Exam, related to the Dissertation Project, must be undertaken up until the end of the fourth month of the 4th academic term. The public defense of the Doctorate Dissertation before an examining board must be done up until the end of a 4 (four) year period.

Check out the Curriculum Structure of our Doctorate’s Degree.