The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul is a private non-profit Catholic university. With campuses in the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Viamão, it is the largest private university of the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the first university founded by the Catholic religious institute of the Marist Brothers. PUCRS is considered the best private university of Brazil's Southern Region by the Ministry of Education (MEC), and one of the best private universities in the country, with FGV, PUC-Rio and the PUC-SP.

Porto Alegre is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the 12th-most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fifth-largest metropolitan area, with 4,405,760 inhabitants (2010). The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian state.