Centro Universitário das Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas
Centro Universitário das Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas is a Brazilian institution of higher education located in the city of São Paulo. The university is better known by the acronym FMU, which is maintained for the sake of tradition, since it has been popularly called FMU since its founding.
History
The Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas was founded in 1968 by Professor Edevaldo Alves da Silva and Professor Onesimus Silveira, then state's attorney of the State of São Paulo. FMU began operations on July 11, 1968. The same month, hundreds of students attended the first entrance exam. Initially six majors were offered: Law, Economics, Business, Accounting, Education and Social Work. In 1975, FMU added the Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras Santa Rita de Cássia, and began offering Psychology, Pedagogy and Languages. In 1976, with the addition of the Faculdade de Educação e Ciências Nova Piratininga, Mathematics was added to the enrollment offerings. In 1987, the institution established its graduate school, which is now known as Centro de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação , which offers 96 master's degree courses, five MBA programs and twenty professional development courses. There is even a unique masters level course on Information Technology Law. In 1989, FMU created one of its most traditional programs, Physical Education, which is considered one of the best majors in Brazil. Also in the 1980s, FMU merged with two partner institutions. Faculdades Integradas Alcântara Machado offered a major in Social Communication. Faculdades de Artes Alcântara Machado includes Faculdade de Música, and is the only college in this region of Brazil to earn the highest score on both sections of Exame Nacional de Desempenho de Estudantes and its courses in Architecture, City Planning and Administration. The FMU also partnered with Faculdades Integradas São Paulo, which currently offers courses in the field of Engineering. Due to its expansion and following the Brazilian law, FMU changed its name to Centro Universitário on 23 March 1999. Soon after, in 2000, it established the Instituto Metropolitano de Altos Estudos , which develops cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies, focusing on contemporary issues in Brazil. The Institute publishes a Journal: Revista de Cultura IMAE. As a University Center, the institution now offers many undergraduate majors and vocational degrees. In one of its campuses, the University has a veterinary hospital, a veterinary medicine farm-school and various health care clinics. In August 2013, the institution joined the international network of universitiesLaureate International Universities. In December 2012, the Ministério da Educação suspended entrance exams and new enrollment in FMU's Technology and Systems Analysis and Development program because of its poor performance in 2008 and in 2011 in the Conceito Preliminar de Curso. In 2013, after further review, the Ministry of Education suspended enrollment in several other programs for 2014.
In 1999 the Juizado Especial Cível was created on FMU's Liberdade Campus, as a partnership between the São Paulo Court and FMU. This is the first such court created as part of a Law School in São Paulo. FMU maintains the operational structure required to conduct daily hearings and service to the community.
