There are also several off-campus units scattered in Rio de Janeiro: the School of Music, the College of Law Studies, the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Institute of History, in downtown Rio; the National Museum and the Valongo Observatory (not to be confused with the National Observatory); and the high-school unit "Colégio de Aplicação" (Application College) in Lagoa.

To the city of Macaé, located in the State's northern region, was dedicated a research and learning center focused on environmental issues and oil-related matters, and the city of Duque de Caxias, in partnership with the National Institute of Metrics, Normalization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro), saw the implementation of "Pólo Avançado de Xerém" (Advanced Center of Xerém), aimed at boosting research in the fields of biotechnology and nanotechnology.

The UFRJ is one of the main actors in the formation of the Brazilian intellectual elite, contributing significantly to build not only the history of Rio de Janeiro but also of Brazil.

Some of its former students include renowned economists Carlos Lessa and Mário Henrique Simonsen; Minister Marco Aurélio Mello; the architect Oscar Niemeyer; the philosopher and politician Roberto Mangabeira Unger; the educator Anísio Teixeira; the engineer Benjamin Constant; writers Clarice Lispector, Jorge Amado and Vinicius de Moraes; politicians Francisco Pereira Passos, Oswaldo Aranha and Pedro Calmon, besides the great physicians Carlos Chagas, Oswaldo Cruz and Vital Brazil.

Created on September 7, 1920 (Brazilian Independence Day) by president Epitácio Pessoa through the Law Decree 14343, the institution was initially named "University of Rio de Janeiro".

[11] Its history, however, is much vaster and parallel to that of the country's cultural, economic and social development (many of its courses trace back to the very foundations of Brazilian higher education system).

[18] Due to the longstanding tradition of its pioneering courses, the university functioned as the "scholar mill" upon which most of Brazil's subsequent higher education institutions were molded.

The change reflected the government's aim of controlling the quality of the national higher education system - mainly by setting a standard by which all other universities would have to conform.

In 1958, occasion for the 150-year anniversary of the UFRJ's Medicine School, the university was faced by the urgent needs of a structural reform that stimulated deeper participation and cooperation among professors and students with college affairs and a more rational, efficiency-based use of public resources.

[25] The UFRJ keeps an "open-doors policy" regarding foreigners who arrive at it to disseminate or accumulate expertise; this also allows for internship or job opportunities for its teaching staff in different institutions and areas of research.

[30] In 2010, the institution achieved a "very good" evaluation and a maximum score in the Ministry of Education's General Index of College Courses ("Índice Geral de Cursos", or IGC in Portuguese).

[38] Some of the famous figures[39] that have held the post of rector in UFRJ are: Benjamin Franklin Ramiz Galvão, doctor, first-ever rector and former member of the Brazilian Academy of Literature(ABL);[40] Raul Leitão da Cunha, doctor;[41] Pedro Calmon, former minister of Education and Health;[42] Deolindo Couto, former member of the ABL;[43] Raymundo Augustto de Castro Moniz de Aragão, former minister of Education;[44] Carlos Lessa, economist and former president of "Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social" (National Bank of Economic and Social Development, BNDS).

[48] The university's main buildings are located at "Cidade Universitária" (College City, with 5.2 million m2) in "Ilha do Fundão" (Backward Island), but the campus at "Praia Vermelha" (Red Beach, with 100 thousand m2) still gathers a plethora of units and supplementary departments.

[58][59] Keeping important historical documents of both national and international relevance, UFRJ's libraries and museums can be considered the primary source of inquiry for the country's most renowned researchers.

[61] Its building is a conversion from the Brazilian Imperial Family's old palace in "Paço de São Cristóvão" and it was founded by royal figure Dom João VI in 1818, but integrated to the university only much afterwards, in 1946.

[62] Brazil's emperor Dom Pedro II himself, an enthusiast for scientific knowledge, contributed to the museum's collection with Egyptian art, fossils, botanic species and many other items obtained by during his personal trips.

[63] Laboratories occupy a great portion of the museum and spread to some buildings raised in "Horto Botânico" (Botanic Garden), in "Quinta da Boa Vista".

[76] The campus has a residence complex for undergraduate students (504 rooms),[77] three university restaurants (commonly called "bandejões", or "big trays"),[78] a sports center, and banking agencies.

The campus at Praia Vermelha (Red Beach), locates at Urca, southern Rio, concentrates on courses related mainly to human sciences.

Its largest and most historically notable building is the University Pallace, a neoclassical-style premise built between 1842 and 1852 to serve as a hospice, which was inaugurated by emperor Dom Pedro II only ten years later.

[92] Aloísio Teixeira, then rector and strong advocate for the integration, argued that the University Palace can bear a circulation of no more than two to three thousand people per day, and that the College City's major problems are not on its structure, but on its access points which are more easily fixable matters.

[94] Through its biophysics undergraduate course, started in the second half of 2008, UFRJ initiated activities in Xerém, a region with large industrial and technological potential in the city of Duque de Caxias.

[95] Aiming to cooperate with Inmetro (National Institute of Metrics, Normalization and Industrial Quality), the university forged a partnership with the government of Duque de Caxias and with the Foundation for Technological Development and Social Policies.

As of 2010, there were 1 965 scholarship programs from Coordination of Higher-Education Personnel Improvement (CAPES) available to post-graduation candidates, 844 from the National Council of Technologic and Scientific Development (CNPq) and 800 from the university itself.

[113] The test was solely based on open-ended responses, and its elaborate questions eventually led it to be considered one of Brazil's toughest and most demanding higher education admission exams.

The entity remained influential until its shutdown by the military regime of 1964–85, when dozens of union leaders, including student and then-president of DCE Mario de Souza Prata, were murdered.

Among the students that participated in the DCE's reactivation are Mário Furley Schimidt[181] and some member of popular Brazilian comedy show Casseta & Planeta, like Marcelo Madureira,[182] Beto Silva[183] and Hélio de la Peña.

: the shutdown of DCE and UNE, the increase in meal prices) and to vindicate the release of Law student Rodrigo Lima, arrested for 35 days in the "Batalhão de Guardas do Exército" (Army Squad Battalion).

[193] In partnership with Petrobras, UFRJ intends to convert an area of 350 000 m2 into the world's largest oil-related technological research center, given that exploration and oil extraction from the recently discovered pre-salt layer fields is in urgent need of new, more affordable techniques.

[221] The Maglev Cobra is a levitation train developed at the UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) by Coppe (Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering) and the Polytechnic School by LASUP (Superconducting Applications Laboratory).