Londrina State University is a public institution dedicated to higher education (undergraduate, lato sensu and stricto sensu), founded in 1970. The institution was recognized as a University by Federal Decree No. 69.324, of 10/07/1971 (Official Gazette of the Union, of 10/08/1971, Section I, Part I) and is maintained by the government of the State of Paraná. With 47 years of experience in the city of Londrina / PR and region, acting in the scope of higher education, research and extension, it has 9 Study Centers, 57 Teaching Departments, 12 Supplementary Bodies as well as the Campus Prefecture.
Since its foundation, the University has sought to expand and offer the community postgraduate programs in different areas of knowledge, currently accumulating 102 lato sensu courses and 73 stricto sensu courses, 48 at master’s level and 25 at doctoral level. In 2016, CEPE Resolution No. 008/2016 approved the implementation of the Postgraduate Program in Psychology (at the Academic Master’s level) in partnership with three departments of the University, namely: Department of Philosophy (one lecturer), Department of Psychology and Psychoanalysis (six academic staff) as well as the Department of Social and Institutional Psychology (five academic staff).
Since its establishment, the Program has sought to encompass a diversity of research output in the field of Psychology, a fact that led to the definition of its area of concentration in Psychology. As a further development of this area, two research lines were defined covering its professors’ diversity of training and production:
Line 1
Psychological Assessment and Clinical Processes, characterized by research in the field of psychological assessment and intersubjective development in the context of clinical psychology with an emphasis on psychoanalysis. The line addresses issues of diagnosis, the construction of psychological instruments, the study of psychic illness in the field of health and multidisciplinary teamwork, as well as clinical processes in institutional, individual, couple and family contexts.
Line 2
Social Psychology and Institutional Processes which seek to analyze the constitution of subjects in social and historical processes, their discourses, meanings and materialities, under the scope of Social Psychology. The research line includes investigations on the relations of knowledge and power within institutions, public mental and collective health policies, the processes of productive restructuring at work, the ethical dimension in everyday urban life, as well as the impacts of the media on the processes of subjectivation.
The decision to define these two lines for the Master’s degree met a need detected in the city of Londrina and region – to consolidate a reseach and training centrer of higher education professors linked to the multitude of topics demanded by the community. At the same time, it indicates a collaboration between two departments that make up the Psychology Course in Londrina State University.
Also, regarding Londrina State University, it is worth mentioning the University Hospital (UH) and the so-called Specialty Outpatient Clinic (UHSOC) intended for outpatient care. The hospital is staffed by professionals of multiple fields such as: Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition, Social Work, Psychology, Pharmacy, Biochemistry and Physiotherapy. It has a total built-up area of 10,500 m² that houses a complete Psychology sector, responsible for assisting patients linked to the most different clinical specialties. The Psychology Department of the UH and UHSOC offers the Hospital Psychology course on a regular basis, welcoming students from all Psychology undergraduate programs offered in the city and region. This sector thus stands out as another alternative for research, training and knowledge production in the area of concentration of our Master’s Degree.
Data that have been presented regarding UEL and, more specifically, the Master’s Degree in Psychology show the consolidation of Londrina as a regional reference in the production of academic knowledge and demonstrate a demand for stricto sensu training both at the state and regional/local levels. We also highlight the fact that two other universities in the region, the State University of Maringá (UEM) and the Paulista State University (UNESP/Assis), offer stricto sensu courses in Psychology, a fact that has the potential to establish the region as a reference center in this area of education. Since the approval and commencement of the PPGPSI activities, the coordinators of the Psychology Programs of the three universities have been holding systematic conversations during meetings to promote the approach between their PPGs, strengthening the link between professors and students, as will be explained later.
In 2017, with extensive advice from the University’s Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, the first selection process of the Program was carried out, which approved, in its first class, 14 regular students.
Since then, we have carried out selection for Regular Students (with a call for applications between August and September of each year, following the institutional academic calendar) and for Special Students (with biannual offers). In addition, we welcomed two more professors to the academic staff, which led to the expansion of participating departments active in the Program.
We believe that the diversity of knowledge found at the University contributes to the deepening and consistency of the dissertations and the training of graduate students who will have the opportunity to experience other social realities as well as other philosophical, theoretical, practical and methodological references. In this sense, the Program still highlights other specific objectives that have become part of its regular activities:
Promote institutional (national HIs) and international (foreign HIs) cooperation,
Encourage its graduates to carry out a diversified education that covers the two lines offered and, establish partnerships with other institutions and PPGs in order to offer courses and other strategic activities for the proposed training.
In current data, the Program:
Has had 68 dissertations defended up to June 2023.