Desafios e perspectivas da formação e profissionalização do economista ecológico: o caso da Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

The undergraduate course in Ecological Economics, offered at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) since 2015, is pioneering and one of a kind globally. Because of that it faces very particular difficulties to its curricular structuring and its institutional allocation and continuation. Graduates also face difficulties regarding the education received and their professional insertion on graduation. This article of critical opinion seeks to explicate and discuss some of the perceived problems according to the principal author’s (a soon-to-graduate student of the program at the time of publication) individual perspective. The text intends to be the first step of a larger, collective debate among the course’s community. For this reason, it focuses on describing today’s status quo of the course and overlooks objective data. Regarding the curriculum, we emphasize the need for consolidation of interdisciplinarity and diversification of the literary canon as well as for offering training in fundamentals of the natural sciences. Regarding professional insertion, we highlight the inexistence of representative entities and the lack of work opportunities, as well as the possibility of building links to Agroecology professions. In the academic setting, we emphasize the lack of support within the university. A brief autobiographical account is provided in conclusion, reiterating the call to defend and improve the course at the university.