Universidade de São Paulo - USP
speciality: Politics

As an undergraduate student who just finalized the requirements for graduating as a Bachelor of Social Studies with a Major in Political Science I can ascertain to anybody who is not acquainted with the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo (FFLCH/USP) that this institution is second to none when it comes to the level of theoretical knowledge and technical skills that our humanities students are presented with throughout the program.

Ranked within the top 30 higher education institutions worldwide by Times Higher Education, FFLCH would rank even higher if not for funding and infrastructure disparities to better ranked faculties, having top-notch programs when it comes to all remaining metrics. From an academic standpoint, the Social Sciences program offers a core curriculum that covers all the main scientific and ideological currents of European, Anglo, and Latin American thought, including both conceptual understanding of scientific theory and the most relevant research methods and techniques for the academic community – students are introduced to the theoretical foundations of Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Science in mandatory courses and to Economics and International Relations in elective courses. Additionally, they always have the option to take classes in any other scientific field at the university through free electives. By the end of the program, Political Science graduates receive in-depth training in programming and software skills for using statistical methods and conducting analysis based on social and political data, namely with RStudio and Python, which significantly broadens their horizons in both scientific research and the job market.

A disadvantage of FFLCH, and USP in general, is the current admission process, which consists of a single, highly competitive general knowledge exam that tends to select students with deep familiarity with Luso-Brazilian culture, history, literature, and grammar, as well as near native fluency in the Portuguese language, making it difficult for foreigners and low-income individuals to be admitted.

Despite this, I would recommend this school to any prospective humanities student considering studying at an authentic Latin American institution. Here, he or she will likely see how the history of the world economy, the sociology of popular culture, and political philosophy applied to social movements are approached in a more integrated way than in first-world higher education institutions which may have less contact with or pay less attention to the contexts of inequality, coloniality, and concrete social challenges that mark humanity as a whole and ultimately connect academia with the real world.