The Southern Cross University, founded in 1972, has 26,000 students, 400 employees and 500 teachers distributed to campuses Analia Franco, Freedom, St. Michael and Pinheiros. It is recognized for its strong performance in the social area and the institutional methodology Learning in Practice, which permeates all activities of teaching, research and extension. In 2012 considered one of the top three private universities of. Part of the South Educational Cruise Group, also formed by the University Center Module and University Center of the Federal District, which aims academic excellence of its courses, as evidenced by official indicators. Recently, following reform of the visual brand, the company stopped using the UNICSUL name and becomes Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul. In 2012 the South Educational Cruise Group, through a financial contribution from a foreign group called Actis, acquired control of University City of São Paulo for R $ 180 million . The group began the process of merging the activities of those entities. In May 2013, the group announced the purchase of Franca University and the College High Standard, both located in the city Franca, in São Paulo.