Brazil - University of São Paulo - Campus de Pirassununga

An aerial view of Pirassununga Campus of University of São Paulo.

Sent by Constança, a postcrosser from São Paulo, Brazil.

This is from Wikipedia : Universidade de São Paulo (University of São Paulo, short USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious. According to reports by the Ministry of Science and Technology, more than 25% of the articles published by Brazilian researchers in high quality conferences and journals are produced at the University of São Paulo.

USP is one of the largest institutions of higher education in Latin America, with approximately 90,000 enrolled students. It has eleven campuses, four of them in São Paulo (the main campus is called Campus Armando de Salles Oliveira, with an area of 7,443,770 m²). The other campi are in the cities of Bauru, Lorena, Piracicaba, Pirassununga, Ribeirão Preto and two in São Carlos. USP is involved in teaching, research and university extension in all areas of knowledge.

In 1934, during a period known for the "search for alternatives", along with political centralisation, efforts were carried out to provide Brazil with modern administrative, educational and military institutions. One of the main initiatives included the creation, that same year, of the University of São Paulo. Its nucleus was the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Languages, with professors coming from France, Italy, Spain, Germany and other European countries.

USP also brought together several research and higher-education institutions that already existed in Brazil such as the Faculty of Medicine (Faculdade de Medicina), the Polytechnic School (Escola Politécnica), "Luiz de Queiroz" College of Agriculture (Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz),and the College of Law (Faculdade de Direito).

According to the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities, USP is placed in the group of the 101-151 top world universities. In the 2011 QS World University Rankings University of Sao Paulo ranked 169th and is the best classified in the specific ranking of South America's universities. In 2011, the University of Sao Paulo is the first Ibero-American institution in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings's top-200 (Position 178 in the World).