Bachelor of Humanities brings humanistic and scientific traditions closer together

On the one hand, scientific culture. On the other, humanistic culture. These types of knowledge, nowadays seen as opposites, can go hand in hand. One complements the other, as scientific production must also consider ethics, the promotion of well-being, solidarity, sustainability, among other social issues. The reunion of these two cultures is the main proposal of the Interdisciplinary Bachelor's Degree in Humanities, whose creation was approved on February 2nd by the Teaching, Research and Extension Council of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Consepe/UFRN).
Both knowledge are covered in the undergraduate curriculum, which adopts an interdisciplinary characteristic based on the exchange of humanities with areas such as neuroscience, ecology, statistics and climate science. Offered by the Humanitas Institute of Integrated Studies, the course will begin in the 2021.1 academic semester, with 50 places for admission through the Unified Selection System (Sisu). Students will be led to studies and analyzes of contemporary social problems, in their local and global dimensions, to build a social, cultural, political and ethical-moral vision.
According to the director of the Humanitas Institute, Alípio de Sousa Filho, the bachelor's degree seeks to create thinking and critical individuals, driven by the desire for change and innovation. “Our societies need professionals with clear ethical guidance for their work in all areas, especially when current contexts, spaces and social ties are increasingly strained by inequalities, violence, conflicts and suffering that can be avoided if appropriate solutions are thought of and applied”, he highlights.
Dialogue agent
After three years of training, the bachelor in humanities will act as a “generalist disciplinary analyst”, given his professional profile, which does not have the nature of an exclusive specialization. This means that you will have “the ability to carry out comprehensive, critical and sensitive readings of social reality and the contexts of your activity and life, from an interdisciplinary perspective of problems and actions to face these problems”, explains Alípio de Sousa.
The professor adds that the graduate will be an “agent of dialogue”, given his ability to coordinate work in teams and promote intersection between professionals from different areas. For example, in a public or private institution with different professionals, the analyst is able to develop a multidisciplinary agenda that makes it possible to design solutions based on exchanges between specialists. From this work, projects and actions, diagnostic or prospective studies and analysis of diverse themes can be created, through a critical, creative and cooperative humanist vision.
The professional's fields of activity are multiple, such as universities, companies, public bodies, social movements, consultancies, consultancies, among others. There are eight courses in Brazil with a similar proposal, which differ between single-cycle and first-cycle training. In the latter, students have course options for specialized second cycle training.
In the Interdisciplinary Bachelor's Degree in Humanities at UFRN, the curricular matrix is ​​flexible, with no subjects that require prerequisites, for a total of 2,400 hours distributed between mandatory and optional components. The contents are focused on the study of contemporary themes, problems and issues, such as “Religion in Today’s World”; “Civilization and Challenges of Global Problems”; “Digital Social Media”; “Neuroscience of Life” and “Smart City and Sociability in Contemporary Times”.
New course, new routes
Focusing on creating a new course for a time of transformation, UFRN combines curricular flexibility with integration with postgraduate studies. The director of the Humanitas Institute details that the idea was born from inspiration in the Bologna Reform, which, in Europe, integrated first cycle courses with master's and doctorate degrees.
“Registration in the Advanced Topics component ensures that the student, with the consent of the professor responsible for the postgraduate component, can attend classes and participate in them. The objective of creating what we are calling routes to postgraduate studies is to provide the student with knowledge of possible and existing paths at UFRN for possible future choices of master's and/or doctorate courses”, details Alípio de Sousa, highlighting that this initiative is a pioneer at the University.
The course project involves six other uni