Official Brazilian sites incorrectly list Bolsonaro's postgraduate degree

Official websites for Brazil's Senate and the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj) are circulating inaccurate information about Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's academic background. Both sites incorrectly state that Bolsonaro holds a postgraduate degree in "political science." The Alerj biography claims he pursued this at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

However, UFRJ has confirmed that there is no record of Flávio Bolsonaro ever studying at the institution, according to its integrated academic management system, which has been in place since 2001. The error was initially reported by the news portal G1. Bolsonaro's presidential campaign team attributed the misinformation to a "mistake or oversight," suggesting the information might have been sourced from platforms like Wikipedia. They stated that they have requested corrections from the relevant platforms.

The campaign team also reiterated Bolsonaro's verified academic credentials. He holds a law degree from Universidade Cândido Mendes and postgraduate degrees in public policy from the Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro (Iuperj), along with an MBA in entrepreneurship from FGV. These details are listed on his official campaign website.

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The parliamentarian's team has already requested corrections from the platform.

Alerj stated that the information published on each deputy's page is provided by the deputies themselves. The erroneous academic references on the Senate's website originated from content produced by the Senate's own news agency. A LinkedIn page associated with the senator, which also contained the same error, was suspended after the G1 report. It remains unclear if Bolsonaro's team managed this particular social media account.

Furthermore, the term "political science" is not commonly used in academic circles; the correct terminology is "political science" (ciência política), which falls under the broader field of social sciences. Reports from 2011 had previously cited Flávio Bolsonaro as having completed postgraduate studies in this field.

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The information registered on each deputy's page is forwarded by the deputies themselves.