The Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS) is a federal institution of free public education. It operates with a multi-campus structure to promote excellent professional and technological education and boost the sustainable development of the regions. It has 17 campuses: Bento Gonçalves, Canoas, Caxias do Sul, Erechim, Farroupilha, Feliz, Ibirubá, Osório, Porto Alegre, Restinga (Porto Alegre), Rio Grande and Sertão and, in the process of being implemented: Alvorada, Rolante, Vacaria, Veranópolis and Viamão. The Rectory is based in Bento Gonçalves. Currently, IFRS has around 19 thousand students, in more than 200 options of technical and higher education courses of different modalities. It also offers postgraduate courses and federal government programs and Continuing Initial Training (FIC). It has approximately 1,020 teachers and 950 administrative technicians. According to data released in March 2017, by the Ministry of Education (MEC), IFRS has a grade of four in the General Course Index (IGC), on a scale that goes up to five. The indicator refers to the evaluation of the year 2015. ##The story## The Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS) was created on December 29, 2008, by law 11,892, which established , in total, 38 Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology. By law, IFRS is a federal authority linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC). It enjoys prerogatives with administrative, patrimonial, financial, didactic-scientific and disciplinary autonomy. It belongs to the Federal Network of Professional and Technological Education. In its creation, IFRS was structured from the union of three federal authorities: the Federal Center for Technological Education (Cefet) of Bento Gonçalves, the Federal Agrotechnical School of Sertão and the Federal Technical School of Canoas. Soon after, two establishments linked to Federal Universities were incorporated into the institute: the Federal Technical School of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Ufrgs) and the Industrial Technical College Prof. Mário Alquati, from Rio Grande. During the process, technical education units were federalized in the municipalities of Farroupilha, Feliz and Ibirubá and campuses in Caxias do Sul, Erechim, Osório and Restinga were created. These institutions are now part of IFRS as campuses. ##Regional Insertion## One of the objectives of federal institutes is to define policies that meet regional needs and demands. In this sense, IFRS presents one of the most significant characteristics that enrich its action: diversity. The campuses operate in different areas such as agriculture, services, industrial areas, wine growing, tourism, fashion and others. They propose to value education at all its levels, contribute to the development of teaching, research and extension, provide more significant opportunities for access to free, quality education and encourage meeting localized demands, with special attention to social layers that lack training opportunities and incentives to enter the productive world. ##Masters## IFRS offers two professional master's courses. The master's degree in Information Technology in Education, held at the Porto Alegre Campus, has the following areas of concentration: Educational Technologies and Education in the Networked Society; and the lines of research: Information Technology Applied to Education and Educational Praxis in the Digital Society. The master's degree in Materials Technology and Engineering has classes offered jointly on three campuses: Caxias do Sul, Farroupilha and Feliz. The area of concentration is Materials Technology and Engineering; and the research lines: Development of Engineering Materials and Materials Transformation Technology. The two courses were approved by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) at the end of 2014 and began to be offered in 2015.
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