Educating and qualifying professionals with technical excellence and critical social consciousness, capable of contributing to the region's integration and development. This is the mission of Universidade Regional do Noroeste do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - Unijuí (Regional University of Northwestern Rio Grande do Sul), a community institution of regional nature located in northwestern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

UNIJUÍ has nearly 60 years acting in higher education and it has campuses in the cities of Ijuí, Santa Rosa, Panambi, and Três Passos, besides supporting units and services centers for distance education programs.

In these regions UNIJUÍ offers to its 10,000 students traditional and distance undergraduate programs, postgraduate and graduate programs, with particular emphasis on its five Master´s degree programs and one Doctoral program.

History

Unijuí's history dates back to the 50's when, in search for qualification and legal authorization for pedagogical work and activities in secondary education, the state's Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Capuchin as well as the community of Ijuí and the regional society began a mobilization in support of higher education implementation.

This movement achieved the creation in 1956 of Ijuí's Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters (Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ijuí - FAFI), pioneer in higher education in the northwestern region of the state. In 1969, FAFI's assets are transferred to the Foundation of Integration, Development and Education of Northwest State of Rio Grande do Sul (FIDENE), now the sponsoring institution of Unijuí, Diretor Pestana Anthropological Museum, Francisco de Assis Basic Education Center, and Unijuí Educational Radio.