Guide for Foreign Students Coming to Instituto de Fı́sica, IF-UFRGS
Yan Levin, Porto Alegre, February, 2011
In the last few years we have had a surge of interest from a number of
foreign students who are interested in conducting their graduate studies at
IF-UFRGS. In order for these students to have a clear picture of what to
expect when they come to Brazil I have prepared this short text.
Entering the Graduate Program: MSc. and Ph.D.
1. To enter the graduate program M.Sc., the students must take an entrance exam. In many cases the coordinator of the graduate program
can arrange for the entrance exam to be taken in the country of origin
of the applicant, see http://www.if.ufrgs.br/pos/ingles/index.html, for
details.
2. If the student passes the entrance exam he/she will be able to come to
the Instituto de Fı́sica to do the graduate studies. The student will get
a small fellowship which should cover the living expenses.
Postdoc Positions
• Postdoctoral position are available at the IF-UFRGS. To apply for
a postdoc, the student should enter in contact with the Professor of
interest. The postdoctoral fellowships are provided by CNPq (Brazilian
version of NSF) and at the moment have value of R$ 3200 reais per
month. With the fellowship comes a small grant of R$ 400/month,
which can be accumulated in order to go to the conference or buy some
equipment or books – all these will have to be donated to the university
after the end of the fellowship.
Living in Brazil: A Reality Check
1. Many students postdocs have unfounded illusions about life in Brazil.
Before joining IF-UFRGS the students/postdocs should make a careful
research about what their life in Brazil will entail.
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2. Outside the University very few people speak English. This means that
the foreign student/postdoc will most certainly face difficulty communicating, unless he/she speaks some Portuguese. Furthermore, the Institute has no infrastructure to help the visitor with anything. If the
student arrives during the semester he/she can ask local students for
help. There is an office at the university called RELINTER (Foreign
Relations), which can provide the visitor with some limited help in
finding a place to live. Nevertheless, a visitor must be prepared to face
some difficulties.
3. There is an illusion that Brazil is cheap. This is not the case. Life
in Brazil is as expensive as in Europe or USA. To rent an apartment
in Porto Alegre requires between US$600-2000, depending on its size.
Most Brazilian students live with their families or share an apartment.
The electronics in Brazil is 2 to 3 times more expensive than it is in US.
The only thing that is reasonably cheap is the food in the supermarket.
Anything imported from outside of Brazil is very expensive, probably
because of large taxes.
4. Crime: Unfortunately the crime rate in Brazil is very high, compared
to Europe or US. Porto Alegre is reasonably safe, compared to other
large cities in Brazil, but still one has to be very careful, in particular
when walking/driving at night.
5. Health insurance: Brazil has a public health system. Because of the
long lines, this usually can be used only as a last resort. We strongly
encourage the visitors to buy a private health plan. The basic plan
is not very expensive, depending on the coverage it will cost R$ 100300/month.
6. Having realistic expectations of what to expect is very important. A
graduate experience at IF-UFRGS can be good or bad, depending on
ones state of mind. To study in Brazil requires a significant amount of
“adventure” spirit. Brazil is not Europe or USA. This must be kept in
mind before deciding to do the graduate studies at IF-UFRGS.
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