Renato Janine Ribeiro is the third member of the IEA-USP to take office in the federal government in 2015

Philosopher Renato Janine Ribeiro, new minister of Education

Renato Janine Ribeiro has become the third former member of IEA-USP's Board to take office in the federal government in 2015 after being nominated minister of Education by Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff on March 27.

The other two are biochemist Hernan Chaimovich, former deputy director of the Institute who became president of the CNPq in February, and zoologist Carlos Roberto Ferreira Brandão, who was the deputy director of the IEA-USP until last January, when he was chosen by the minister of Culture as president of the Brazilian Institute of Museums (IBRAM).

Janine remains as coordinator of IEA-USP's Research Group The Future Inquires Us and as member of the Institute's Scientific Committee for the Intercontinental Academia, a joint project of the IEA-USP in partnership with the Nagoya University's Institute for Advanced Research.

The new minister

Janine shall take office on April 6. The choice has been praised by representatives of the National Association of Directors of Higher Education Federal Institutions (ANDIFES), of the National Union of Municipal Directors of Education (UNDIME), of the NGO Todos pela Educação (All for Education) and of the National Campaign for the Right to Education.

The decision of the president has also been supported by the global head for Education of the World Bank, Claudia Costin, by sociologist Simon Schwartzman and by USP's deputy president, Vahan Agopyan.

Agopyan said to the news portal G1 that "USP is honored by the nomination of Professor Renato Janine Ribeiro as new minister of Education. We are certain that he will contribute to the improvement of education in our country with his unblemished experience."

Janine has graduated in philosophy from FFLCH, holds a masters degree from the Université Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne and a PhD from FFLCH. He has conducted post-doctoral research at the British Library, and has been a visiting professor at Columbia University. His research is related to Thomas Hobbes, philosophy, democracy, politics, political theory, political philosophy, republicanism, university, Brazil and England.

Two of his nine books are A sociedade contra o Social: O Alto Custo da Vida Pública no Brasil (Society against Social: The High Cost of Public Life in Brazil) (2000) and A Universidade e a Vida Atual — Fellini Não Via Filmes (University and Life Nowadays - Fellini Didn't Watch Movies) (2003). He has organized 18 books, and has written 78 book chapters and 81 articles published in specialized journals. Janine regularly contributes to Brazilian newspapers and journals, such as a weekly contribution to the newspaper Valor Econômico.

Janine has been member of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (1993-1997) and of the Brazilian Society for Advancement of Science (SBPC) (1997-1999), from which he has also been secretary (1999-2001). As director of evaluation at the Higher Education Personnel Training Coordination (CAPES) (2004-2008), Janine has coordinated the triennial reviews of more than 2500 masters and PhD courses in Brazil in 2004 and in 2007.

At USP, besides being a member of the IEA-USP's Board (2011-2014), Janine has been a member of the Ethics Committee (2010-2012), a representative of the full professors in the University Council (2009-2011) and president of USP's International Cooperation Comission (1991- 1994).

Photo: Sandra Codo/IEA-USP