According to the General Course Index for the three-year period from 2009 to 2011, FAJE was considered the fifth best private college of higher education in Brazil, receiving a 5 on a scale from 1 to 5.

FAJE is maintained by the civil nonprofit and philanthropic Jesuit Education Association and Social Assistance (AJEAS) based in Belo Horizonte, through its subsidiary, the Vocational Technical Institute of St. Ignatius.

It grew out of the Faculty of Philosophy created in 1941 in Nova Friburgo and was transferred to São Paulo in 1966, then to Rio de Janeiro in 1975 and finally to Belo Horizonte in 1982.

The Faculty of Theology was founded in São Leopoldo in 1949, where it remained until being moved to Belo Horizonte, forming with the Faculty of Philosophy a single educational center for Jesuits from both Brazil and abroad.

It is also open to students of the diocesan clergy, religious congregations, and lay men and women.