The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Portuguese: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS) is one of the largest federal universities in Brazil. It is almost completely located in Porto Alegre, with four campuses (Campus Centro, Campus Saúde, Campus Olímpico and Campus do Vale), a few off-campus buildings (e.g. the Business School and the Institute of Arts) and some units in other cities. UFRGS is among the most highly rated Brazilian universities,and has one of the highest numbers of scientific publications.
The university originated from the Escola de Farmácia e Química (School of Pharmacy and Chemistry) in 1895, It was expanded in 1896, when the Engineering College was created. This was the beginning of higher education in Rio Grande do Sul. In the end of the 19th century, the Medicine and Law schools were founded, the latter being the first school of humanities tertiary education in the state.In November 1934, the Universidade de Porto Alegre (University of Porto Alegre) was founded, initially composed of the following units:
