About Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais
Basic information and contact details for Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais
Recognised by the Vatican’s education authorities in 2010 as the largest Catholic university in the world, Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais has its earliest roots in the vision of Dom Cabral, the first Archbishop of Belo Horizonte.
He founded a seminary in the Brazilian city in 1926 and from the late 1940s drove the diocese’s development of higher education through its Mining Society of Culture, still the body through which it runs the university. Faculties of law, philosophy, science and mining were created in 1948 and 1949, leading to the formation of the university in 1958. Pontifical status was conferred by the Vatican in 1983.
Under the motto of "Knowledge that Transforms", it aims to "promote human and social development" with principles which include "faithfulness to Christian doctrine and respect for the principles of the Catholic Church in its missionary commitment to higher education".
More than 60,000 students are spread across seven campuses in the state of Minas Gerais, around a third of them on the main campus in Belo Horizonte. In Belo Horizonte there are 250 laboratories including one of Brazil’s first devoted to climatological studies, created in 2003. There are also substantial numbers of distance and extension students.
They have access to the state’s largest library system, with more than 900,000 volumes, and a range of financial support including Senior Scholarships for those over 40 and Pastoral Agent funding for active church workers studying social work.
It has been rated the best private university in Brazil six times by the annual Guia do Estudiante, most recently in 2017 when its courses in accounting, international relations and information technology were given the highest, five star rating.
Rankings
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World University Rankings 2025
Breakdown via year: Teaching
Ranking positions 2020 to 2025
2025
1501+
2024
1501+
2023
1501+
2022
1201+
2021
1001+
2020
1001+
Precise ranks and overall scores are shown for the institutions toward the top of a ranking; for institutions with banded ranks, please see the relevant ranking tables for an indication of their scores.
Impact Rankings
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Impact Rankings 2024
No data to display
Impact Ranking positions 2020 to 2024
2024
601-800th
2023
601-800th
2022
801-1000th
2021
401-600th
2020
401-600th
Precise ranks and overall scores are shown for the institutions toward the top of a ranking; for institutions with banded ranks, please see the relevant ranking tables for an indication of their scores.
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