The Federal University of Santa Catarina (Portuguese: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC) is a public university in Florianópolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. Ranked as the 4th best overall university in Latin America by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, it is one of the leading Latin American research universities, being the third largest university in Brazil and the fifth in Latin America, noted for its engineering school, and the only Federal University in the state of Santa Catarina. UFSC is internationally known for the quality of its courses in mechanical engineering, control engineering, sanitary engineering, electrical engineering and dentistry.
The organization of its campus is done in the 11 Centers of Education (Centros de Ensino), divided by field of study. Every Center of Education is divided in departments, the largest one being the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The oldest is the Center of Juridic Sciences, that is itself the department of Law, which was the first of UFSC's departments to be officially recognized in 1932.