This article highlights the role played by professor Joel Martins in implanting, developing and consolidating postgraduate studies in Brazil. To achieve this goal, the text reconstructs the trajectory of Joel Martins' life, studies and work, pointing out the initiatives he took in the creation of postgraduate programmes at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). It situates these initiatives in the context of a wider preoccupation with the question of teacher qualification and the formation of cadres capable of developing research in the university. It concludes by emphasising the importance of the contribution of Joel Martins for an understanding of the specificity of postgraduate studies stricto sensu made evident by the introduction of the terminology "programmes of postgraduate studies" instead of "courses". The work is based on the first hand experience of the author himself and on declarations by Joel Martins collected by other researchers, enriched by two unpublished documents.
postgraduate studies in Brazil; Joel Martins; Brazilian education