The Animal Science Master of Science (M.S.) graduate program at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) started in 1962, and Animal Science Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) graduate program stated in 1972. In 2006, the program completed 1000 thesis/dissertations theses/dissertations. It is noteworthy that our M.S. and Ph.D. Animal Science graduate programs are considered pioneers in Brazil. Both M.S. and Ph.D. Animal Science graduate programs are frequently evaluated regarding their academic structure and redirected to accomplish all the Animal Science requirements, being accredited by the Federal Council of Education (CFE). In the latest CAPES evaluation, the Animal Science graduate program obtained the highest classification (scored 7). In this way, the Animal Science graduate program at UFV is recognized as one of the best in Brazil.

The Animal Science graduate program has contributed to human resources training in research and teaching, which currently are part of several highly respected undergraduate and graduate programs at private and public Universities and researchers who hold leadership positions at the main companies in the country’s agriculture and husbandry sector.

The Animal Science graduate program at UFV aims to build a “critical mass” of human resources, capable to develop projects to solve the main limitations in Animal Science. The objectives also include training professionals for higher education, research, and extension. In fact, we have many alumni holding leadership positions at the main companies in the country’s agriculture and husbandry sector. Thus, Professors and staffs are always committed to search for new knowledge and technologies, aiming the Animal Science development.

The Student Advisory Committee shall comprise an adviser, who shall be a member of the graduate faculty, and at least two additional members (co-advisers) of the graduate faculty or from other Institutions. All requirements for a M.S. and Ph.D. degrees must be met within 24 and 48 months, respectively.

The Animal Science graduate program at UFV makes a self-assessment every four years, which encompass all sectors (Professors, graduate students, and staffs). The results of this self-assessment are used to define the strategic planning for the next four years.

In 2019, the UFV revised its strategic planning for the period from 2019 to 2023, and presented three institutional objectives for the graduate programs, as described below:

Objective 5: Consolidate and expand the graduate programs.

Objective 6: Strengthen research, innovation, biosafety, and the protection of intellectual property policies.

Objective 7: Increase the scientific and intellectual production and dissemination.

Thus, the strategic planning of the Animal Science graduate program was developed in accordance with UFV’s institutional strategic planning and its main objectives include to increase international scientific publications, and consequently, increase articles citations of the member of the graduate faculty. In addition, it is also expected to expand the technological innovations through increased products released to Brazilian society, and to increase the research fundraising through agreements with the public and private sectors. Moreover, a SWOT analysis was carried out to support the strategic planning of the program.

 

Mission

The program aims to train a critical mass of human resources, highly qualified, skilled and capable of developing projects that aim to generate knowledge and assist in the search for results and solutions for the Animal Science area.

 

Vision

Maintain the level of excellence in the area of ​​Animal Science and Fishery Resources at CAPES and continue to be a reference in Graduate Studies in the area of ​​Animal Science in Brazil and abroad.

 

Values

Excellent training of students, enabling program graduates to develop educational, scientific and even business actions, enabling critical, reflective and creative action in solving problems in their training area, involving one of the five major areas of the program , considering economic, social and environmental aspects, in order to meet the demands of society, aiming at sustainable and socially fair animal production.

Provide the egress with technical-scientific and ethical knowledge to develop their activities on a regional, national and global level.

Maintain scientific and methodological rigor in carrying out research projects. Keep professors and students continuously updated on the Program’s actions, thus providing greater interaction between them.

 

Diagnosis

The Graduate Program in Animal Science at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) began in 1962, at the master’s level, and in 1972 the doctoral course was created. In 2020, the program will complete 58 and 48 years of teaching at the master’s and doctoral levels, respectively; both levels of training are pioneers in stricto sensu postgraduate studies in Animal Science in the country.

The Program, at the aforementioned levels, has since been continuously evaluated in its academic structure and systematically improved to meet the current and future needs of animal science in terms of knowledge generation, technological innovation and training of professionals to meet public and of the private initiative. The Program is duly accredited and authorized by the Federal Council of Education (CFE). In regular CAPES evaluations, the Postgraduate Program in Animal Science at UFV obtained grade 7 in the 2004-2006 and 2007-2009 trienniums, grade 6 in the 2010-2012 triennium, and again grade 7 for the 2013-2016 quadrennium, being recognized in academia, research and in the private sector as one of the best in Brazil.

 

Postgraduate in Animal Science in numbers

The Postgraduate Program in Animal Science, by the end of 2020, had completed 1179 Master’s dissertations and 639 Doctoral theses. In the last four years (2016 – 2019) 422 scientific articles were produced, 40% of which were published in A1 journals and 70.8% classified in scope A (A1, A2, A3 and A4), according to CAPES Qualis , these results show that the program has relevant scientific production and is concentrated in the best scientific journals in the field of Animal Science.

Currently, the program has 29 professors, 18 of whom are CNPq productivity scholarship holders, which reveals a permanent faculty and highly qualified collaborator, committed to the development of high-impact research. The program annually offers 45 disciplines to students from Animal Science and other UFV programs, in addition, the program’s students can attend a wide range of disciplines from other UFV graduate programs to complement their training, such as for example disciplines from the programs of Cellular and Structural Biology, Applied Biochemistry, Applied Statistics and Biometrics, Genetics and Breeding, Soils and Plant Nutrition, among others. In this way, the program guarantees the formation of professionals with in-depth knowledge in their area of ​​expertise.

 

SWOT Analysis of the Program

The program carried out a SWOT analysis, in order to provide subsidies for the elaboration of its Strategic Planning. Summary of results obtained by the SWOT matrix for the program:

– Strengths: Highly qualified faculty; Excellent infrastructure for research; Level of excellence in the CAPES Assessment, with a grade of 7; Strong international insertion; High scientific production in journals of stratum A of CAPES; Strong integration with undergraduate education, as well as with society through outreach actions; Offering courses in English by professors of the program and professors from other institutions abroad; Strong performance with other non-consolidated postgraduate programs in Brazil; Strong performance in solidarity projects in countries in Africa and Latin America.

– Weaknesses: Low English language training of our students.

– Opportunities: Exchanges for professors and students, through international agreements with the public and private initiative; Agreements that allow double degrees for students; Demand for highly qualified professionals in the field of Animal Science in national and international level.

– Threats: Low availability of PROEX resources for consumables and equipment maintenance; Reduction in the number of Program grants by government agencies; Low availability of scholarships abroad.

 

Forces

• Graduate students and faculty

The 30 professors in the program have extensive experience in training human resources, which has significantly contributed to a better availability of masters and doctors to meet the growing demand for highly qualified professionals in the field of Animal Science in the country. The program coordinates several academic cooperation projects with other graduate programs, aiming to strengthen unconsolidated programs, in addition to strengthening and advancing joint scientific research in different areas of Animal Science. It is noteworthy that the Program coordinates the INCT-CA since 2008 (first edition) renewed in 2016 with duration until 2022, initially consisting of 10 research institutions, being in the second edition composed of 27 Institutions and more than 80 researchers from Brazil and the outside.

The program has also been routinely visited by professors from other countries to participate in thesis defenses and integrated research projects, as well as to participate in international events organized by the program’s professors, such as international symposia, noting that two events every year.

 

• Infrastructure

PPG has excellent infrastructure for research, where 12 research laboratories can be highlighted: Animal Laboratory, Animal Bioclimatology Laboratory, Animal Biotechnology Laboratory, Forage Laboratory, Animal Nutrition Laboratory, Fish Laboratory, Animal Reproduction Laboratory, Animal Physiology Laboratory, Silage Microbiology Laboratory, Meat Quality Laboratory, Ruminant Nutrition Laboratory and Muscular Biology and Nutrigenomics Laboratory. These laboratories have equipment that allows them to carry out a wide variety of analyses.

The Graduate Program in Animal Science uses several field sectors of the Department of Animal Science (called UEPEs, Teaching, Research and Extension Units) to conduct its research:

1) UEPE Poultry Production and Nutrition – The sector has exclusive sheds for conducting experiments with birds, three sheds with 100, 80 and 60 experimental units, respectively, two air-conditioned rooms for carrying out digestibility and metabolism tests, a unit of research for the evaluation of minerals and physical structure of a feed mill for the production of experimental feed – with the main purpose of developing research aimed at nutritional requirements and evaluation of feed and additives for poultry.

2) UEPE in Beef Cattle – The sector has an area of ​​200 ha, with several pickets of signalgrass and a herd of 200 matrices, with the main purpose of developing research aimed at the production and nutrition of grazing beef cattle , development and optimization of multiple supplements for grazing cattle and generation of technological bases for short-cycle grazing cattle, with a focus on reducing the age at slaughter and age at first coverage of female zebu females.

3) UEPE Cattle Milk – The milk herd is completely confined and uses a computerized milking system. The sector has several “free stall” and “compost barn” sheds, as well as a shed with 32 individual stalls for research with lactating cows and another with 28 individual stalls for research with growing animals, as well as an area for carrying out research. research with infant animals.

4) UEPE Caprinoculture – The sector has several sheds, including a specific one for research, a mechanical milking room and a herd of approximately 200 lactating dams.

5) UEPE Equideocultura – The sector has an area of ​​130 ha, and the built area is approximately 3000 m². It has a herd of 85 animals and its main purpose is teaching, research and extension in equine nutrition and reproduction.

6) UEPE Swine Farming – The sector has an exclusive structure for conducting research, there are 4 rooms for conducting research with pigs up to 30 kg, with 24 experimental units, 1 room for digestibility experiments consisting of 24 cages, 1 unit for digestibility testing of amino acids with individual pens, 1 shed containing 80 boxes for experiments with animals up to 135 kg and unit of gestation and lactation. whose main purpose is to carry out research to assess feed, additives and nutritional requirements of pigs.

7) UEPE Swine Improvement – The sector has several sheds and a herd of approximately 70 breeders, with the purpose of developing research in phenomics, nutrigenomics, genotype-environment interaction, and evaluation of performance, carcass and meat quality of swine lines trades.

8) UEPE Forage – The sector has a collection of different forage plants and some paddocks of elephant grass and brachiaria, whose purpose is to seek alternatives to improve animal performance in pastures.

9) UEPE Ovinoculture – Area destined to research with beef sheep. It currently has a stable and pasture structure with an approximate area of ​​9 ha and a herd of approximately 100 animals.

10) Gestational Nutrition and Fetal Programming – Area destined to carry out research in Gestational nutrition and fetal programming in beef cattle.

11) School slaughterhouse – Conduct research related to meat science and carcass processing, including ante and post mortem factors and develop technologies applied to improve meat quality.

12) UEPE Aquaculture – Infrastructure for research on nutritional requirements, use of new sustainable foods, Self-feeding of fish and other aquatic organisms.

13) UEPE Pasture Animal Production – Sector used for research on animal production (milk and meat) in pasture systems.

14) UEPE in Nutrition and Ruminant Production – The sector is used for research aimed at the evaluation of feed for cattle, nutritional requirements of beef cattle, development of calibration curves using NIRS, evaluation of modern techniques in ruminant nutrition, prediction of performance of beef cattle and use of different diets in feedlot of super-early beef cattle.

In addition, the Graduate Program in Animal Science uses the structure of the Triângulo Mineiro Teaching, Research and Extension Center in Capinópolis-MG, which has a 100 ha farm where research is conducted in the areas of animal production in grazing and use of preserved forage for cattle, in addition to research aimed at meeting the demands of rural producers in the Triângulo Mineiro region.

The Program has at its disposal a Computer Laboratory with multifunctional printers and 40 microcomputers equipped with the main software for text editing, spreadsheet, graphics, production of slides, statistical analysis, calculation of rations, etc. All connected to the internet, which allows access to the most up-to-date technical and scientific information, Capes journal portal, Scielo, etc. All classrooms and auditoriums are equipped with computers and data shows that allow for improvements in class presentations, seminars, symposiums and congresses.

Additionally, the UFV has several units/laboratories of a multi-user nature which expand the support of research carried out by students and professors of the Program. Among these, the Biomolecules Nucleus stands out, in which specific analyzes are carried out in the areas of molecular biology and chemistry (e.g., mass spectrometry); Microscopy Nucleus, where microscopic evaluations are carried out to support the Program’s research work (e.g., scanning electron microscopy); Anaerobic Microbiology Laboratory, where support analyzes are performed for the areas of Ruminant Nutrition and Silage Microbiology; BIOAGRO (Institute of Applied Biotechnology to Agriculture), with a wide physical and laboratory structure for analyzes focused on biotechnology.

The Central Library is located in the center of the university campus and aims to serve the university community in its teaching, research and extension activities, mainly through publication loans, interlibrary loan, cataloging at source, standardization of publications, exchange and donation and various guidance to users. Therefore, the Central Library acts in the acquisition, storage, organization, restoration, documentation services and bibliographic dissemination. In addition to the university community, the Central Library is also open to the Viçosense community and other people who demand its services. It is noteworthy that the UFV Central Library is the depository of all theses and dissertations produced in the Program, serving as an alternative for their public consultation (thesis and dissertations of the Program at www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/176 ).

 

Action plan

Next, the Action Plan and the Program Objectives are presented in accordance with the current UFV Management Plan (2019-2023).

Maintaining concept 7 in CAPES’ four-year evaluations, with the main initiative to maintain its high quality scientific production in Qualis A journals and increase the production of technological products and innovations. For this, the program must improve its research infrastructure, allowing better training of students.

The strategic planning of the postgraduate program in Animal Science at UFV works in accordance with the institutional planning of the University and its main goal is to increase scientific publications in journals indexed in international databases, which will consequently increase the number of citations of our scientific articles, strengthen technological innovations and increase the fundraising of research agreements signed with the public and private sectors.

Within each of UFV’s Institutional objectives, we highlight the main goals to be achieved by the UFV Graduate Program in Animal Science in the next four years:

 

Objective 1 – Maintain the Program’s level of excellence.

 

– Goal 1: To train 100 masters and 100 doctors in Animal Science in the Graduate Program in Animal Science.

Actions: Increase the selection process for students from other countries, preferably English-speaking students

Period: 09/2020 to 01/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO and DZO

 

– Goal 2: Maintain the program’s high international scientific production.

Actions: Support the publication of scientific articles in Qualis A journals, enabling payment for publication.

Period: 09/2020 to 05/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO and DZO

 

Actions: Encourage exchanges with international institutions for the execution of joint projects, including the training of human resources

Period: 09/2020 to 05/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO, DRI and DZO

 

– Goal 3: Encourage the participation of students in sandwich doctoral programs abroad.

Actions: Encourage the feasibility of academic cooperation agreements with institutions of excellence abroad, aiming at the joint training of postgraduate students, including double degrees.

Period: 09/2020 to 05/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO, DRI and DZO

 

– Goal 4: Increase cooperation with unconsolidated graduate programs.

Actions: Promote solidarity actions with unconsolidated graduate programs through Institutional agreements

Period: 09/2020 to 05/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO, DZO and ZOT

 

– Goal 5: Expand and modernize infrastructure for research and graduate studies

Actions: Improve the availability of laboratories to meet the Program’s different areas of knowledge

Period: 09/2020 to 01/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO and DZO

 

Actions: Carry out annual preventive maintenance of equipment used in different laboratories

Period: 09/2020 to 01/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO and DZO

 

 

Objective 2: Strengthen research, innovation, biosafety and intellectual property protection policies.

 

– Goal 1: To capture resources from national and international development agencies to improve research activities.

Actions: Disseminate and promote with permanent teachers opportunities to raise funds by national development agencies and through international financing funds.

Period: 09/2020 to 05/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO, DRI and DZO

 

Actions: Encourage the establishment of partnerships with private companies to carry out cutting edge research, preserving the public disclosure of results and the concomitant training of human resources.

Period: 09/2020 to 05/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO and DZO

 

 

Objective 3: Maintain high scientific and intellectual production and dissemination.

 

– Goal 1: Increase the individual scientific production of the program’s professors.

Actions: Encourage, through cooperation, the publication of at least 4 scientific articles in high impact factor journals (Qualis A), by professors, in the Capes evaluation quadrennium.

Period: 09/2020 to 05/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO and DZO

 

– Goal 2: Increase the individual production of technological innovation products by the program’s professors

Actions: Increase technological innovations, so that each professor can produce at least one product for Brazilian society in the next four years of Capes, emphasizing that these products can be patents, software, professional training courses, books, electronic spreadsheets, etc. ..

Period: 09/2020 to 12/2023

Status: In Progress

Coordinator: Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho

Bodies: CZO and DZO

 

 

1.3.2. Articulation of program planning with the Institutional Development Plan

 

 

The strategic planning of the Animal Science program is included in the UFV’s PDI, whose institutional proposals are presented below.

 

Proposed Revision of Strategic Goals of Institutional Objectives that make up the Institutional Development Plan (PDI) of UFV (2019-2023).

UFV revised its Strategic Planning in 2019 and presented some goals for the Graduate Institutional, as described below in objectives 5, 6 and 7.

Objective 5 Institutional – Consolidate and expand postgraduate studies

The following goals were presented:

5.1. Increase the number of graduate programs with concepts 4 and 5 by 10%.

5.2- Increase by 10% the number of graduate programs with grades 6 and 7.

5.3- Increase the number of stricto sensu graduate programs by 10%

5.4- Encourage the offer of postgraduate courses in the professional modality, increasing to 13 the number of programs offered.

5.5- Encourage the offer of lato sensu postgraduate courses, increasing to 8 the number of programs offered.

5.6- Expand and modernize the infrastructure for research and graduate studies.

 

Objective 6: Strengthen research, innovation, biosafety and protection policies

of intellectual property.

The following goals were presented:

6.1-Update research and innovation policies.

6.2- Increase by 10% the number of research agreements signed with the public and/or private sector.

6.3- Implement a registration and monitoring system for projects that require biosafety certificates.

Objective 7: Expand scientific and intellectual production and dissemination.

The following goals were presented:

7.1- Increase scientific publication by 25% in journals indexed in international databases.

7.2-Increase by 20% the average number of citations of scientific publications.

7.3-Develop and implement public information search systems on research, innovation and researchers at UFV.

In this way, the strategic planning of the postgraduate program in Animal Science at UFV operates in accordance with the institutional planning of UFV.