The Program PPCIR (Graduate Program in Religious Studies) is a graduate program (Masters and Doctorate) acknowledged by the Ministry of Education (MEC) in Brazil and its mission is to promote the study of religion, considering the plurality of religious experiences, the diverse religious traditions in their specificities and the application of this knowledge to foster the acknowledgment of the plurality of and the respect to the religious diversity, characteristics of a lay State. PPCIR is connected to the Department of Religious Studies of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), located in the Institute of Humans Sciences, which include also undergraduate programs and specialization course in Religious Studies. PPCIR is a founding member of the National Association of Graduate Programs in Theology and Religious Studies (ANPTECRE) and responsible for the academic journal Numen: Revista de Estudos e Pesquisa da Religião, the student journal Sacrilegens and for the Publishing Series Estudos de . Besides the academic activities organized by the Research Groups, the main academic event of the Program is CONACIR, organized by the student body with the support of the Coordination and professors. The Program follows the Affirmative Actions Polity of UFJF and has its own Committee on the theme, including quotas for women. It offers the possibility of access to scholarships made available by different agencies (CAPES, CNPq, FAPEMIG) and by the UFJF herself (PBPG)   PPCIR’S goals are:

• To widen and deepen knowlegdes, to stimulate the creative ability, to improve the professional formation and to develop research methods and techniques in the field of Religious Studies;
• To respond to the demands for knowledge about religion, stimulating the systematic reflection and the development of research in a pluridisciplinary and non-confession perspective;
• To stimulate the initiative and the interest of the student through a curricular structure that favors the development od studies in a way to attend the specialization requirements and habilitate to the degree of Master in line with the current legislation;
• To habilitate to the degree of Master and Doctor in line with the current legislation.