Federal University of Pernambuco (Portuguese: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, UFPE) is a public university located in Recife, Brazil, established in 1946. UFPE has 70 undergraduate courses and 175 postgraduate courses. As of 2007, UFPE had 35,000 students and 2,000 professors. The university has three campuses: Recife,Vitória de Santo Antão, and Caruaru. Its main campus, or "Cidade Universitária", has 10 centers in 149 hectares. It is located in the west part of Recife, in the Várzea neighborhood. The Law School or Faculty of Law is located downtown.
UFPE ranks among the top Brazilian universities, being the ninth university both in size and scientific production, and the seventh among the federal institutes. UFPE's Center for Exact and Natural Sciences is consistently the strongest in research production in the university. CAPES ratings are Physics Department (rating 7/7), the Center of Informatics (rating 6/7) and the Chemistry Department (rating 6/7).
UFPE has been elected twice as the best university of north and northeast Brazil by Guia do Estudante (a national university ranking magazine) and Banco Real (ABN AMRO).
Each year over 6,000 seats are offered in a competitive entry exam (Vestibular). The median and average competition rate is of about 10 applicants for each seat.
