The initiative to create a Graduate Program on Language, Literature and Interculturality (POSLLI) started in August 2014, during a Group for Language Study in the Brazilian Mid-West (GELCO) meeting hosted in Goiás, GO. Part of the organizing committee proposed to gather and construct a Proposal for New Courses (APCN) to have a Graduate Program in the department of Language and Literature at the Goiás State University. This would enable a country-bound graduate program, allowing the development of research and teaching in the state's distant regions.
Since then, a group of twenty-one Linguistics and Literature professors was formed. Seventeen were UEG tenured professors who were doing independent research on language or literature related topics in conjunction with interculturality, and four were external professors whose research was in agreement with the proposal. The Program enables researchers to have an exchange of information and an increase in intellectual production, eventually broadening discussion spaces and implementation of academic and scientific improvements in the Brazilian Mid-West, especially in Goiás.
UEG policies in the past years have been fundamental to develop the Program; Continuing Professional Development- the development of institutional and interinstitutional research projects; the constitution of CNPq-accredited research groups; the pro-meetings program that financially supports university staff and student participation in national and international meetings; the organization of meetings in partnership with other higher education institutions with the support of research agencies (1st International Meeting and 7th National Meeting of GELCO in partnership with UFG, UFMT, IFMT, UFMS and UnB, financially supported by FAPEG; 2nd National Meeting of the SIG Theory of the Poetic Text /ANPOLL: Cartography of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, in partnership with UFG and UNESP, financially supported by CAPES and FAPEG; Conversation Circles, in partnership with a UNIMONTES, financially supported with grants from the Ministry of Culture and also from National Library Foundation). In addition, it provides incentives to intellectual production and editions of quality journals.
Another policy established by UEG relies on the creation and constant promotion of specialization courses throughout the state campuses. In 2016, ten courses related to our Master´s Program were offered: Language and School Education; Literature and Contemporary Media; Language, Culture and Teaching; Children and Juvenile Literature: Reading and Teaching Practices; Education and Languages; Education, Teacher Education and Language; Literacy, Production of Meanings and Writing; Culture, Identity and Region; Interdisciplinary Teacher Preparation: Goiás Diversity; and Literary Studies. The experience of the Master´s Program proposal members in designing such courses, as well as teaching disciplines and tutoring on various campuses, have resulted in interaction, empowerment and integration, which were pivotal aspects for the proposal approval at CAPES.
With the support of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies (PrP), our Master´s Program seeks to contribute to enriching researcher's and teacher's preparation in the field of Language, Literature and Interculturality. We maintain the necessary commitment at the graduate level with undergraduate and specialization alumni, as well as other interested individuals, such as teachers involved with basic education or higher education.