EDITORIAL

A recurrent debate nowadays in the academic setting is the relationship between undergraduate and graduate studies. Reflecting on such interaction implicates, first of all, accepting them as distinct levels of higher education, with specific purposes.

On the one hand, qualified undergraduate teaching demands constant knowledge update, i.e., the incorporation of new findings revealed by research. On the other, graduate teaching aims to form research professors – and undergraduate programs here seem to be the ideal scenario for acquiring practical knowledge.

A closer relationship between these two levels should value knowledge production at the undergraduate level, a goal that can be fulfilled via different strategies, especially undergraduate science programs. Moreover, supervised involvement of graduate students in undergraduate activities can certainly bring reciprocal benefits.

Scientific publications are the ultimate palpable indicator expressing this interaction. The co-participation of both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as of graduate professors, in scientific publications is the final expected product.

Stomatos reaches majority recognized by the academic dental community as an important means of dissemination of quality scientific knowledge, publishing research studies developed in undergraduate and graduate dental programs from all over Brazil.

Vania Regina Camargo Fontanella
Coordinator, Graduate Program in Dentistry
Universidade Luterana do Brasil