In times of crisis, good governance of public institutions becomes imperative for their instant survival and perpetuation over time. A public university is no exception; entrenched private interests, federalism-like difficulties in running decentralised schools, resource scarcity and heavy oversight from controlling mechanisms being some of the hampering idiosyncrasies that have grown all too common for Brazilian public institutions across the board.

Despite this scenario, the Federal University of Parana has consistently been ranked as one of the leading public institutions in Brazilian superior education and on September 16, 2017 we welcomed those charged with its current stewardship.

Prof. Ricardo Marcelo Fonseca, Dean of the Federal University of Parana, as well as Prof. Vera Karam and Prof. Paulo Opuszka, spoke to us about sensitive challenges Brazilian public universities face to improve management and foster research and public spirit in a way that is consistent with what Brazil’s current state of affairs demands of graduates, both as citizens and professionals.

We were honored to receive these respected professors in our community!