October 6, 2004
By Micael Vier B.

SCO LEOPOLDO, Brazil - The Postgraduate program at the Theology School (EST) obtained the maximum grade, a 7, in an evaluation carried out by the Coordinating Committee for the Perfecting of Educational Personnel (CAPES in Portuguese).

Among the 1,819 postgraduate programs evaluated by CAPES three percent were disqualified, 64 percent obtained a regular grade and only 11 percent were considered excellent, CAPES said October 4.

In an interview with ALC, EST Dean Lothar Hoch emphasized the serious nature of the work carried out in the institution, the quality of the teaching team, investment in research and publications and the relationship with universities in other countries.

"The CAPES grade expresses the consolidation of the Ecumenical Post Graduate Institute (IEPG) of the EST as a course of excellence in the area of theological teaching and research," he noted.

The EST of Sao Leopoldo has held the maximum grade since 1988. "The grade represents a joy and an awareness of our growing responsibility to maintain our level and continue attracting students from all over Brazil and abroad for the school," added Hoch.

According to EST's secretary of Projects and Reports, Walmor Ari Kanitz, the evaluated points include the intellectual production of the teaching body, the intellectual production and the thesis for masters and doctorate degrees by students, as well as the available infrastructure.

The EST has a total of 51 professors. The post graduate professors' team includes 21 doctors. Close to 100 students are enrolled in the postgraduate program in the institution working on four areas of concentration: Bible, theology and history, religion and education and practical theology.

According to G|nther Heinz Beineke, library assistant, the resources include 75,000 tittles, 80,000 volumes, 476 VHS tapes, 12 DVDs, 200 slides, 340 audio CDs and 1,400 periodicals. Of this 14,550 are in English, 22,900 in German, 28,200 in Portuguese and 4,500 in Spanish.

"We still have free access to the CAPES periodical site, because of the grade in the last evaluations, as well as books in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French, Finnish, Japanese and 200 maps," said Beineke.

The CAPES evaluation is annual, based on reports and visits to institutions. The conceptual grade is granted to institutions every three years. The EST graduate program was evaluated by the Education Ministry in April 2002 as very good and will be newly evaluated in 2007.

The EST is the only theological teaching institution in the country that obtained the maximum CAPES grade in the postgraduate program.

ALC News Service