2013 Retrospective > Four Schools of Fundação Getulio Vargas are among the top ten in Brazil, according to the latest General Index of Courses publication by the Ministry of Education (IGC/MEC - 2012): São Paulo School of Economics (FGV/EESP), FGV/EPGE - Graduate School of Economics, the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV/EBAPE) and the School of Social Sciences (FGV/CPDOC). They all received the maximum grade (5) for the index, and they were placed in the first, second, fifth and seventh place, respectively, in the national rank. The real goal is to institutionalize meritocratic norms and values that will last for generations, such as institutions like Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, said the director of EESP, Professor Yoshiaki Nakano. The director of FGV/EPGE, Professor Rubens Penha Cysne, also celebrates. We are very pleased with the recently released indexes, which attest the constant path of academic excellence for 52 straight years. EPGE/Graduate School of Economics achieved, compared to the last three years, the top scores in all of its evaluations, he highlighted. The two Schools are the best in economics in Brazil.Cysne explains the success factors. That was the result for the undergraduate course (5 in ENADE and 5 in the Preliminary Course Concept), the Professional Master degree (5) and the Academic Master and Ph.D. (7). Considering the undergraduate and graduate courses as a whole, the School also achieved the highest grade 5 in the General Index of Courses. With this, EPGE becomes the only economics graduate program in Brazil with three accumulated highest grade of seven in the evaluations of Capes and all the accumulated grades of the Professional Master's equal to the maximum grade (5). The ranking of the Department as first place in Latin America according to the International Index of Tilburg provides additional basis to such evaluations, he added.For EBAPE's director, Professor Flavio Vasconcelos, the result is a consequence of teamwork: The success is the result of strategic teamwork developed by all students, professors, technicians and administrative staff and managers. The focus is always on quality teaching and research. This comes from the broader mission of EBAPE and FGV whose essence is to contribute to the economic and social development of Brazil, he says. In this evaluation, EBAPE is the best school of Administration in Brazil.CPDOC's director, Professor Celso Castro, says that the School - which is also the best institution in the area of Social Sciences in Brazil - is very pleased, especially with the highest score achieved by the Professional Masters in Cultural Assets and Social Projects. The result makes us very confident that the investment in this program is worthwhile and successful, he says, noting that it completed a decade in 2013.IGC takes into account the evaluation of the faculty, physical facilities, the education program and the students' grades in the National Examination of Student Performance (Enade). The calculation also includes the weighted average of the preliminary concepts of the course in the three reference years and the concepts of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) - responsible for the evaluation of the graduate programs in the institutions.In all, the Ministry of Education evaluated 2,171 higher education institutions throughout Brazil.*Check out for more news from FGV 2013 Retrospective next week.