During their academic careers, some university professors become involved in university administration at various levels. They take on the role of coordinating a department, directing a unit, and eventually rise to senior management positions, serving as associate deans, superintendents, and sometimes even deans. That is what happened to me. Over the years, I took on various management roles, eventually reaching the point where I ran in the election for president of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), a position for which I was appointed by the Governor of the State of São Paulo to serve from 2017 to 2021. Throughout this journey, a lot happened—I learned a great deal, engaged in many discussions, and achieved many accomplishments.

As my term as president of Unicamp came to a close in the midst of the pandemic, I realized I had written many articles on various issues in higher education—articles I had been writing ever since I became more deeply involved in the subject when I took on the role of dean of undergraduate studies at Unicamp in 2009. Without intending to cover every topic, I ended up compiling about 40 of the most significant pieces, each reflecting an aspect that was relevant enough to merit an article. I submitted the idea to Eduardo Blucher, who was immediately enthusiastic about the project and decided to publish it through Editora Blucher.

This is how the book *Reflections on Higher Education: The University and Its Commitment to Society* came to be, published in late 2021. All the texts have been updated and annotated to explain the context in which they were written or to provide updated information. Among the texts are opinion pieces written for newspapers, letters to students and the university community, speeches, manifestos, and accounts of some interesting initiatives that were developed during my tenure. This diversity of topics has been organized according to the subjects addressed, and I believe the final result offers a very broad overview of the current state of higher education in Brazil.

The book is, therefore, an invitation to healthy debate, which is so important for the development of our higher education system and for our country.

Purchase the publication at the following link: https://bit.ly/3mTPP1c

Learn more about the author:

Marcelo Knobel is a full professor of physics and has served as president of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) since April 2017. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM). Before assuming the presidency of Unicamp, he directed CNPEM’s National Nanotechnology Laboratory (LNNano) from August 2015 to November 2016. He has held other leadership positions at Unicamp, including that of vice president for Undergraduate Studies from 2009 to 2013. Knobel earned his bachelor’s degree (1989) and Ph.D. (1996) in Physics from Unicamp. He is a fellow of the Eisenhower Fellowships (2007), the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2009), and the Lemann Foundation (2015). He has published more than 250 scientific articles and 15 book chapters, and frequently writes opinion pieces and popular science articles for newspapers and magazines.

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