- Tradition: Since 2012 the PPU has offered vacancies at the master’s level and in 2018 it was approved by the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (Capes), an organ of the Ministry of Education (MEC) to offer the first course at the doctoral level in Architecture and Urbanism in the state of Parana. In addition, this is the third course at the master’s level in the Southern Region of Brazil.
- Concept Score 4: It is worth saying that the approval of the doctorate is due to the excellent performance of the master’s degree, which obtained concept 4 in the last four-year evaluation of Capes, in 2017
- Quality: The PPU has a highly qualified teaching staff, formed by one hundred percent of doctors with full-time dedication
- Professors: Another advantage of the course in PPU is the scope of specialties as well as the variety of disciplines offered, thus, the union of both graduate programs extends the possibility of development of research with multidisciplinary knowledge within the scope of design methodology, city morphology, urban landscape, historiography, heritage, post-occupation evaluation, environmental comfort, product and process management and development, mass customization, technological innovations, construction systems, applied statistics, among others.
- Infrastructure: The study centers offer excellent facilities and resources, providing a great learning and research experience with the help of classrooms and auditoriums with audiovisual and videoconferencing resources, laboratories with modern equipment, a library with an integrated collection and 24-hour study rooms.
- Integration: The PPU is open to the possibility of partnerships for the development of research networks, the exchange of professors and students, and the optimization of joint projects, in addition to meeting regional demand.
- Location: The region is the place of a hundred new cities, created under a regional planning scheme, which enabled the formation of a network of close and interconnected urban centers, favoring the accelerated regional development. Londrina and Maringá are the two regional capitals, one hundred kilometers apart and with a dozen intermediate cities.
- It is for everyone: UEM and UEL are public universities and postgraduate courses at the master and doctoral level are free. In addition, both universities offer scholarships annually with the aim of making the student’s exclusive dedication feasible in a way that increases the productivity indexes of the institutions and helps in the functioning of the program.
- National and International Recognition Metrics: The State Universities of Maringá and Londrina have a history of excellent evaluations at national and international level.
The State University of Maringá (UEM) in an assessment made by QS Latin America University Rankings 2021, with a total of 410 universities from 20 Latin countries, rises from 6th position in 2020 to, now, the 5th best state university in Brazil. This is in line with the official assessment that guides Brazilian higher education, that is, the Ministry of Education (MEC), which confirms that UEM is the 5th best state university in the country.
The State University of Londrina (UEL) in the year 2019 was mentioned in five international rankings. The Times Higher Education Latin America University Ranking considered UEL among the 48 best in Latin America and in the 5th position among the State Institutions of Higher Education in Brazil. The Times Higher Education placed the UEL among the top three of Parana, remaining as the 1st public state of Paraná.
The State University of Londrina (UEL) still figures as the 4th best state in the country, according to QS World University Rankings and the 10th place among the Brazilian ones. The Times Higher Education & Emerging Economies Rank considered the University in the 2nd position among the state and the 5th in Brazil. Finally, UEL won 9th place in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking 2017 among Brazilian universities, and occupies 354th place worldwide.