The Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (English: Federal Rural University of Semi-Árido or UFERSA) is a university located in the city of Mossoró in the State of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. In January 2005, Deputy Chief of Staff issue an opinion unfavorable, returning to the Ministry of Education the ESAM transformation project in Specialized University; In February 2005, at the request of the Director of SOMA, Prof. Josivan Barbosa Menezes, the Governor of Rio Grande do Norte, Wilma Maria de Faria, intervenes with the Presidency of the Civil House of the Republic and can revert to assent the ESAM transformation project in the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid;