The program

The Graduate Program in Law (PPGD), approved on January 5th, 2017, is a historical construction linked to the implementation of the undergraduate program in Law on August 7th, 1996, which from its beginning included in its planning the creation of a Stricto Sensu Graduate Program in the area of Law, an option that was embodied in the construction of research and university extension actions focused on the themes of human rights, citizenship, the State, democracy, society and public policies. To this end, the Human Rights and Citizenship Research Center (NUPEC) and the State, Politics and Law Research Center (NUPED) were created, which are the research groups that have historically constituted and underpin the two lines of research and the area of concentration of the Master's Program in Law at UNESC.
The line of research “Human Rights, Citizenship and New Rights” is based on research carried out within the scope of NUPEC. The line of research “Law, Society and the State” is based on research carried out by NUPED. In addition to these groups, others were created over the years, thus contributing to the construction of the research that consolidated the path to the recommendation of the PPGD/UNESC in its first submission.
In this sense, the PPGD/UNESC, with its implementation, has been adding to the academic legal area in the south of the country a proposal that encourages theoretical/practical knowledge that is not dissociated from the concrete and plural reality of the growing interests of the community, with the aim of contributing to the training of masters with the skills to manage their professional activity and aimed at guaranteeing and implementing rights, allowing reflection and improvement of skills, incorporating and creating new knowledge that stimulates spaces for social transformation.
Now, producing knowledge in practice is also a way of penetrating the visions of the institutionalized reality of the operators of the Law, through their experience with a view to transforming it, understanding that the greater the association of interdisciplinary theoretical knowledge and real practical experiences, the greater the possibility of contributing to another profile that is more humanistic, critical, less dogmatic and more socially committed to the reality of the country. The program has been consolidated nationally and with several international actions.

Partnerships have been established with 18 national graduate programs. The Program has also joined six national research networks:
a) Egrupe Network, involving the Unesc, Unisc and FMP/RS programs;
b) Common Network, involving the programs at Unesc, Unilassale, UCS and researchers from the Universidade Franciscana and Universidad de Sevilha;
c) Recijur - Research Network on Republicanism, Citizenship and Jurisdiction, involving programs from Unesc, UCS, UFSC and Unochapecó;
d) Brazilian Legal Research Network on Human Rights (Unesc, Uniritter, Unijuí, Puc-Campinas, UFMS, UNICAP, UNIT, UFPA, Cesupa);
e) Law and Public Policy Research Network;
f) National Network of Black Researchers (CONEABS) and the Brazilian Association of Black Researchers (ABPN).

At the international level, the program, through its researchers, participates in 4 international networks, one in development and a CLACSO GT:

a) CLACSO GT;

b) Conesul Prison Research Network, which involves UNESC, UCPEL, UFPEL, UDELAR (URUGUAY), UNIV. DO LITORAL (ARGENTINA) and UNIVERSIDAD DE ASSUNCION (PARAGUAY);
c) International Network for Latin American Democratic Constitutionalism (RCDLA);
d) REDidi (Red Iberoamericana para la Docencia y Investigación en Derechos de la Infancia;
e) Ibero-American Health Law Network;
f) Development of the Law and Development Network together with members of the following institutions: Agostinho Neto University (Angola), Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), Higher Institute of Legal and Social Sciences of Cape Verde, and University of Macau (China).
In addition, the program has acted in a consolidated way in social inclusion and university extension, carrying out various actions and projects, in particular the School of Leadership and the Community and Social Leadership Course, which was attended by 100 students from 11 Brazilian member states and 52 municipalities; the actions of NEGRA and the OAB goes to schools project, in partnership with OAB/Criciúma-SC, which benefited 950 elementary and high school students. Between 2017-2020, the program promoted more than 140 events (seminars, conferences, mini-courses, dialogues, colloquia, master classes, lectures, workshops, open classes, etc.), with more than 80 in 2020 (held remotely due to the pandemic). These events were attended by a total of more than 12,000 people from all the Brazilian member states, the Federal District and various countries.
In this sense, the program has consolidated its role at the national level (and its contribution at the regional level), through the impact of its scientific production, social insertion, participation in research networks, partnerships, academic production, organization of events and the recognition of the activities of its teaching staff, contributing to the training of highly qualified human resources who are committed to building an interdisciplinary and critical approach to human rights, seeking to transform legal thinking, based on an emancipatory, democratic and participatory dialogue that incorporates the debate on the relationship between State and society and public policies, especially social policies.