Campus and city
UFRGS is spread across several campuses in Porto Alegre — including the historic central campus and the large Campus do Vale — embedding students in a major southern-Brazilian state capital known for its café culture, music and politically engaged student tradition. With around 43,000 students and free tuition, campus life is large, active and overwhelmingly Brazilian, with student organisations, sport and a strong public-university ethos. The environment is Portuguese-speaking with very few international students, and Porto Alegre, while a substantial and walkable city with a good quality of life, is less globally prominent and less central than Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo.