Infrastructure
PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGES PROGRAM
The Languages Program at UFV offers a comprehensive physical and support infrastructure that facilitates teaching and research activities across its undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The Program occupies the entire third floor of the Center for Human Sciences, Languages, and Arts (CCH), with a total built area of 1,100 m², divided into two wings: administrative and academic.
The Administrative Wing houses 12 offices for permanent faculty members, coordination offices for the undergraduate programs in Languages and Literature and the Trilingual Executive Secretariat, the Head of the Program’s office, the staff management office, coordination and support offices for the Postgraduate Program in Languages and Literature, a conference room, a video conferencing room, a kitchenette, and a public reception office. All rooms are equipped with furniture, computers, printers, telephones, and high-speed internet via optical fiber. Each room measures approximately 14.2 m².
The two wings are connected by a central hall where the main reception office is located. Adjacent to the hall are a small lobby, male and female restrooms, and a bulletin board with updated information on program activities.
The Academic Wing contains eight classrooms, each equipped with multimedia resources, including TVs, DVD and VHS players, projectors, stereos, and overhead projectors. This wing also includes the coordination offices of CELIN (English Language Extension), CELES (Spanish Language Extension), the Sectional Library of the Languages Program, and a Computer Laboratory.
POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM FACILITIES
The Languages Program includes a dedicated office for the coordination board and a reception office for the Postgraduate Program in Languages and Literature. When the Master’s program was launched, three classrooms were designated exclusively for postgraduate teaching in its two areas of concentration: Literary Studies and Linguistics.
Two of these classrooms (Rooms 16 and 32) function as small auditoriums with seating capacity for up to 60 people, suitable for academic lectures, events, and public thesis defenses. Each room includes 50 upholstered chairs and a permanent projector.
NEW LANGUAGES PROGRAM AND POSTGRADUATE FACILITY
As part of the federal REUNI program (Decree No. 6,096/2007), which supports the expansion of public universities, UFV constructed a new building (CCH 11) to accommodate the Languages Program and the Department of Social Sciences. This initiative aimed to expand access to higher education and improve infrastructure for growing student and faculty populations.
The new facility has four floors: the ground and first floors are dedicated to the Languages Program, while the top two floors house the Department of Social Sciences. The ground floor includes six classrooms, a fully equipped auditorium (84 seats), two tutoring rooms, one computer lab, one library, three coordination offices, six support offices, one administrative office, a storage room, a pantry, a server room, and accessible restrooms.
The first floor, designed for faculty, includes 43 private offices, a meeting room, a support room, and restrooms, including those adapted for accessibility. Two elevators ensure full mobility throughout the building.
Three classrooms in the new space are reserved exclusively for postgraduate courses. The relocation to this facility, scheduled for the second semester of 2013, marked a significant improvement in the teaching, research, and outreach conditions for both undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
LANGUAGE LABORATORY
In addition to the Computer Lab, the Program has exclusive access to a Language Laboratory located on the first floor of UFV’s Central Library. The lab supports teaching, research, and outreach in foreign languages offered by the Languages Program—English, French, and Spanish.
This multimedia space includes computers, printers, TVs, audio/video booths, DVD players, recorders, teaching materials, maps, posters, and CD-ROMs. Initially, two labs existed, but one was deactivated following upgrades to classroom technologies. The decommissioned lab space was converted into a multipurpose classroom that now serves as a small auditorium for postgraduate use.
VIDEO CONFERENCING ROOM
In 2009, with funding from FINEP, a modern video conferencing room was established within the Languages Program for use by the five postgraduate programs in CCH: Languages, Education, Economics, Home Economics, and Administration. The room is managed by the Program and is available to other programs by scheduling.
Although not yet widely used for classes or events, this facility is a valuable asset for national and international collaborations, remote academic meetings, and research networking. It also reduces travel costs and logistical challenges associated with organizing academic events.
CENTRAL LIBRARY (BBT) AT UFV
UFV’s Central Library occupies a modern, four-story building with a total area of 12,816.59 m² and a capacity of 1,290 users. It includes accessible entrances, wide circulation areas, and panoramic elevators. Facilities include study rooms (individual and group), multimedia labs, an auditorium (170 seats), a video room (36 seats), a language lab, and various technical and administrative sections.
The collection meets the needs of undergraduate and postgraduate programs and includes a large number of up-to-date journals across multiple fields. It also hosts special collections, such as the United Nations Collection and the Brazilian Coffee Information System (SbiCafé).
SECTIONAL LIBRARY OF THE POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM
The Program maintains a dedicated Sectional Library open to students and faculty. Its collection includes 6,572 titles in Literature, Linguistics, and related fields, selected to support the Program’s academic and research focus. The library is fully integrated into the UFV Central Library system (VIRTUA) and is regularly updated with new acquisitions.
From 2008 to 2013, the Program secured over R$ 43,000 in funding from UFV and FAPEMIG for the acquisition of more than 820 new titles. These efforts substantially enriched the collection, which now complements the 13,373 relevant titles in the Central Library, providing the Program with access to approximately 19,945 specialized works.
The Program also expanded its collection of academic journals through institutional exchanges and the publication of its own journal, Revista Gláuks. Security and user services have been enhanced with infrastructure investments and dedicated staffing.
The Languages Program has also improved Sectional Library services by installing a magnetic security detector and assigning a dedicated staff member to manage cataloging and user support.
COMPUTER RESOURCES
UFV is among Brazil’s most technologically advanced institutions, supported by a high-capacity computing infrastructure. The UFVnet network is based on four interconnected optical fiber rings spanning 25 km, linking all university departments and research centers.
The Languages Program benefits from this infrastructure, with full internet access, computing facilities, and a dedicated Computer Laboratory that supports both teaching and research activities of the postgraduate program.