Created in 1990 and recognized in 1997, UNICENTRO is a young university of the State System of Higher Education of Paraná State, and had a fast and broad process of growth until 2003, significantly expanding its offer of vacancies in graduation. This factor was extremely important to meet the demands of the Midwest and Mid-South regions of Paraná where it operates and to its own consolidation as an Institution of Higher Education (IES).

UNICENTRO currently has 41 classroom-based Undergraduate Courses with 7,119 students enrolled and 14 Lato Sensu Specialized Courses with 300 students enrolled (base year – 2016). It has 21 Post-Graduation Stricto Sensu Programs, 16 being Master’s Courses with 504 students and 5 Doctoral Courses with 110 students (base year – 2016). In Distance Education (Ead), there are approximately 536 students in 4 undergraduate courses and 2,876 students enrolled in Lato Sensu Ead, divided into 11 courses (base year – 2016).

The Postgraduate Program in Forest Sciences (PPGF) is linked to the Agrarian and Environmental Sciences Sector and to the Forestry Engineering Department, located in Irati University Campus. The PPGF began its activities with the Master’s Course, created through Res. Nº 007/2006-COU/UNICENTRO and accredited by the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) on 07/06/2006, receiving concept 3, and started activities in March 2007.

Following improvement of the evaluation indexes, the PPGF submitted the proposal for the creation of the PhD Course in Forestry Sciences in 2013, which was approved and started activities in March 2014. The Master’s and Doctoral Programs currently have concept 4 of CAPES.

Finally, the great importance and contribution of the PPGF to the state of Paraná and southern Brazil region is highlighted through an expansion in the training of qualified human resources and the social and economic development of the South region that has a great forestry vocation.