Jornal da Unicamp – Did the experience you gained in eight years as chief of staff somehow facilitate your transition to the position of rector? What were the main differences you noticed in your first days in the new role?

Paulo Cesar Montagner – I usually say that I can't claim ignorance of the university's administrative environment, but, on the other hand, this is the first time I've been a rector. From a bureaucratic point of view, in the first few days you have to change documents, administrative passwords, signatures in different public bodies… It's an invisible horizon for the community. As a chief of staff or unit director, you also sign a lot, but nothing compares to what you do as a rector. Furthermore, the responsibility increases considerably, because the entire pyramidal structure of the University converges on its main figure, which is the rector.

Forming the team is another laborious task. I decided not to do anything in this regard until we had the final approval of the results of the community consultation, that is, the publication of the governor's decree. I made this decision to respect the entire ritual – not only the procedural, but also the civil – that the governor's signature represents.

There is also the challenge of the schedule, which is very intense. In a way, this is good. In my previous positions, my relationships were more internal, within the University. Now, I see more clearly the need to maintain external relationships, since the rector is the University's greatest representative.

I have great respect for the history, dedication and work of all the rectors who preceded me. Unicamp, which has been in existence for almost 59 years, is a very robust university that has shown constant growth. This is the result of the work not only of the previous rectors, but of all the teams that worked with them and of all the people who have built the University over the years.

JU – You won the election for the rectorship by a small margin of votes, which indicates the existence of a political division at the University. How do you assess this scenario and what do you intend to do to bring the community together around your management?

Paulo Cesar Montagner – The history of Unicamp shows that the consultation processes for rector have been very competitive, and I see this in a positive light. Our community has always respected the choices of the majority and worked together for the University to grow. In this last consultation, the campaign started earlier. There were almost nine months between the first official move and the day of the appointment by the governor – a very long period, but one of great learning.

Walking around Unicamp, I heard the most diverse demands. Now, I am no longer the candidate of 50 or so percent of the community. I am the rector of all the people. This is a bit like what our campaign motto said: Unicamp belongs to everyone. The people who voted for the other candidates deserve the best of attention in our management, because, of course, there are also good contributions coming from the other [management] programs.

Another fundamental issue is that the internal debate does not end after the appointment of the rector – it continues in the units, which have a model similar to that of the rectorship, which is renewed every four years. When the management is renewed, the ideas, the energy, the motivations are also renewed, but the principles, which are the structural pillars of Unicamp, have been preserved.

During the consultation process, we discussed very difficult issues, such as electronic timekeeping and bonus payments to employees. In the latter case, I always insisted that the previous administration's proposal was to expand benefits, preserving the University's resources and, at the same time, providing our employees with better conditions. The results of this process are more lasting than simply paying bonuses. There was an improvement in food vouchers, the implementation of meal vouchers and the achievement of health benefits, which was long awaited.

We cannot avoid any other major issue that may arise within the University. The debate must always be as broad as possible, so that we can take steps forward while preserving the achievements we have already made. We need to pay attention to people management, maintain our already established areas and strengthen those that will be the future of Unicamp.

JU – The future of Unicamp was closely linked, in the previous administration, to the consolidation of the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS) project. How do you evaluate this initiative?

Paulo Cesar Montagner – The issue of sustainability is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Hids is a truly innovative initiative that involves different stakeholders and attracts significant attention from the community.

Few people know that I was one of those responsible for reopening negotiations for the purchase of Fazenda Argentina [the area of ​​Hids Unicamp, that is, the part of the hub that belongs to the University] at the end of 2013, when Professor Tadeu was the rector. We made the acquisition in absolute secrecy, and that was a great achievement for the University. At that moment, I remember we were saying: “Well, we bought it. Now what do we do?”

The first master plan for the farm area was drawn up during the 2013-2017 administration. Later, under Professor Marcelo [Knobel], a new concept for the site emerged, which was also very significant. Under Professor Tom Zé [Meirelles], the project was strengthened.

We made a very important move to coordinate with organizations in the city of Campinas, especially with Sanasa [Water and Sanitation Supply Company S/A] and CPFL [São Paulo Power and Light Company], which helped us build the infrastructure for Hids Unicamp. We had the courage – and also, I would say, the political will – to transfer the startup village project there, with the endorsement of Finep [Financing Agency for Studies and Projects], which was originally planned to be located on the University's current campus.

Today, Hids Unicamp is ready to start transforming itself into a material reality. I hope that some of the projects planned for the site will materialize during this administration. I imagine that the initiative will be an important reference not only for Unicamp, but also for other Latin American universities – and, who knows, for the entire world –, in this new way of seeing coexistence between people, teaching and scientific production within an ecosystem of sustainability.

JU – In addition to the consolidation of Hids, what challenges do you consider should be faced more urgently at the beginning of your management?

Paulo Cesar Montagner – I believe we have three major challenges. The first is to increase the number of undergraduate places. There is pressure for this, and we have already made the decision, in the University Council [at a meeting held on April 8th of this year], to open four new courses: daytime and evening law, with one hundred places; physiotherapy, at the FCM [Faculty of Medical Sciences], with 40; a degree in English, at the IEL [Institute of Language Studies], with 30; and a degree in history, at the IFCH [Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences], with 52, in the evening. In addition, some units will offer additional places in other courses, and we know that there are more schools that also want to grow. For example, the creation of a medical course in Piracicaba is under discussion, a subject that has already been mentioned on television and that deputies from the region always comment on.

Expanding undergraduate programs is a challenge because we need to grow responsibly, while maintaining adequate conditions for teaching, research, and extension. The last time we created a large number of vacancies was in 2009, with the opening of the FCA [Faculty of Applied Sciences]. Today we see the importance of that decision not only for Unicamp, as a public university, but especially for the Limeira region, for the growth of the city.

The second major challenge is funding our healthcare sector. We are the only public university [linked to the São Paulo State government] that still has a robust healthcare sector in its budget – a very valuable and necessary area for the entire Campinas macro-region, both in academic and healthcare terms, but which consumes a significant portion of the University's budget. It is essential that we are able to open discussions with the state government – ​​and also with the federal government – ​​in search of more resources so that we can continue to pursue our mission and offer increasingly better services.

The third issue, which will be more pressing in this first year, is tax reform. This will likely be the greatest challenge for the next three cycles of rectorship. Cruesp [Council of Rectors of the State Universities of São Paulo], as an entity, has already established its position. We would like to have two guarantees: that the universities will receive a percentage of the state's net tax revenue equivalent to the current 9,57% of ICMS [Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services] and that this transfer be constitutionalized, because we still depend on the publication of a decree by the governor year after year.

FAPESP [São Paulo Research Foundation] published a study in 2019 on the importance of financial management autonomy, achieved in 1989, for the growth of São Paulo state universities. The data is astonishing. In 30 years, we have seen significant improvements in all indicators – number of students enrolled, masters and doctorates graduated, undergraduate and graduate programs – without significantly increasing our professional contingent.

It is essential that we remain vigilant about preserving autonomy. This is included in our management program as one of our major concerns for the short, medium and long term. I am absolutely certain that I will pass this on to the next rector, because it is only from 2029 onwards that things will become more operational within the scope of tax reform.

JU – Universities have once again become the target of attacks by the far right in Brazil and the United States. Do you believe that this context could be unfavorable for São Paulo state universities in terms of discussions on tax reform?

Paulo Cesar Montagner – I often say that you don't need to publish any decree to end the autonomy of universities – you just need to cut their funding. That's exactly what's happening in the United States. We have the impression that American universities depend exclusively on raising private funds, but, in moments like this, we see the importance of the public system for the survival of these institutions. Harvard, whose reality is somewhat different, was the only one to have the courage not to comply with the demands of the [President Donald] Trump administration, but it has been suffering greatly because of this institutional attitude.

Here in Brazil, we are already feeling how the reduction in research funding directly affects universities. The Unicamp Journal itself published a study by Professor Rachel Meneguello that showed the difficulties in postgraduate studies resulting from the cuts in scholarships.

A second important point is that we need to be able to communicate better with the public. I frown upon the type of publicity that external actors have tried to do for the University. We recently had the case of a councilman who came to Unicamp and released a video with his completely distorted view, saying that those images corresponded to the entire University. That is not true. This is a place where people work hard, where important things are discussed and discovered, and where many people are educated. The country's great leaders are born in great universities. This needs to be said every day, by all of us, so that we can build a vision that corresponds to reality.

In addition to the number of people we serve daily in our healthcare area, I often cite as an example the Paralympic sports projects in Brazil. My school – the Faculty of Physical Education – created a study area on this topic in 1989, when no one was interested in the subject. I saw many people coming to study here, and the same happened at other colleges in the country. The result of this process was fantastic. Instead of staying locked up at home, children with disabilities today play sports, renew their lives and go out into the world.

I don't know how things will go in the United States, but here I hope that governments will be sensitive enough to understand the importance of what we do.

JU – Returning to the increase in the number of undergraduate places. This is a challenge that is accompanied by another: the expansion of retention policies. What are your plans to address this issue?

Paulo Cesar Montagner – Inclusion is a topic that's here to stay. We have been mobilizing, slowly and gradually, to provide better conditions for our students. Professor Tom Zé's administration was very fruitful in this regard. We doubled the resources for student retention, something we are very proud of.

Our first concern should be to ensure that the budget will remain stable year after year. A second important point is to complete the acquisition of the land adjacent to the Student Housing. Unicamp was a pioneer in the construction of the housing in the early 1990s, but since then, the number of available places there has not grown at the same rate as the number of students at the University.

During the previous administration, we started opening the university cafeteria on Saturdays and Sundays. This is an initiative that we would like to strengthen. We also transformed the former SAE [Student Support Service] into an executive board in order to take a more careful look at the different issues related to retention. We have the challenge of the Indigenous Entrance Exam and, now, the challenge of quotas for trans people. I know that this is a controversial subject, but it took months of work and scientific studies until the quota proposal was analyzed by the University Council. It is essential that the University takes care of the trans population, which suffers greatly and is the victim of alarming rates of violence.

We also need to make significant investments in evaluation mechanisms, so that we have metrics and results that allow us to demonstrate that it is worthwhile to provide opportunities for people who would not reach the University without the help of inclusion and retention policies. The same must be done with regard to monitoring our former students.

As you can see, our challenges are not small. I count on the Unicamp community to manage for everyone, listening to people, understanding criticism and enhancing great ideas.