The Graduate Program in Nursing and Health (PPGES), at the academic master’s and doctoral levels, embodies a long-standing aspiration of the faculty members of the Health Department of Universidade do Sudoeste da Bahia, within their various research groups. This aims to meet, among others, a high demand from health educators and health care professionals from the Southwest region of Bahia and North Minas Gerais. PPGES is, therefore, the result of the collective effort of a group of doctors from the Health Department at UESB – Jequié, representing a benchmark in academic quality, capable of transforming the goals of a proposal into reality. It encapsulates the ambition to consolidate a cutting-edge scientific/technological center responsive to regional demands and committed to academic excellence.
The implementation of PPGES commenced with the creation of a committee to construct and submit the proposal in 2008. This proposal was then submitted and approved by CAPES in 2009, and UESB’s CONSEPE 051/2009 resolution formally endorsed its operation. Since then, PPGES has been awarding master’s degrees, with recipients achieving notable recognition in the academic sphere for their approval in competitive exams for professorships in Federal and State Institutions, and admission into Doctorate programs at other institutions.
The allocation of master’s scholarships by CAPES and FAPESB has facilitated the exclusive dedication of the master’s students to PPGES, leading to a notable increase in the scientific output of the faculty and student body, from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. This fact, coupled with the program’s significant social integration due to community projects in Jequié and the surrounding region, has boosted PPGES’s rating to a score of 4 in its most recent evaluation by CAPES. PPGES, with an area of focus on Public Health Nursing and four research lines: a) Health Surveillance; b) Family in its Life Cycle; c) Health and Society Education; and d) Policies, Planning, and Health Management, adopts an interdisciplinary, theoretical-epistemological approach and encourages critical-reflective analysis. This promotes the development of technical and ethical competence, capable of generating knowledge to provide health care in a contextual, systemic, and multidimensional manner for the local and regional population.
It is worth highlighting that PPGES is fully aligned with UESB’s Institutional Development Plan (PDI) and represents a strategic initiative to stimulate scientific and technological progress in the health sector, through the training of qualified human resources in the Southwest, South, and Extreme South regions of Bahia. Its establishment has decreased our institution’s reliance on other regions of the country and the Southwest, South, and Extreme South regions of Bahia, while also addressing the considerable latent local demand derived from various undergraduate courses.