The University of Wisconsin–Madison recently hosted a group of academic leaders from Brazil, one of three delegations from South America’s largest country visiting U.S. institutions in the Midwest, New England and West Coast to learn about higher education in the United States.
The delegations – supported by the U.S. Embassy to Brazil, in partnership with the Fulbright Commission in Brazil – were particularly interested in exploring opportunities for collaboration and exchanges connected to the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program, formerly known as Science Without Borders.
This program, launched by the Brazilian government in 2011, provides scholarship for some 4,000 Brazilian undergraduates to study in the United States each year. Scholarships are given primarily to students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The program is part of the Brazilian government’s larger initiative to enable 100,000 of the country’s best students to study at the world’s best universities.
Through this program, UW–Madison currently hosts 49 Brazilian students, admitted to the university through the Visiting International Student Program in the Division of Continuing Studies.
“Hosting these students helps UW-Madison continue its long-standing relationships with important academic institutions in Brazil, helps to create new institutional linkages, and adds to the diversity of our international student population,” says Interim Vice Provost and Dean Guido Podesta, Division of International Studies. “These are all goals of the UW-Madison Brazil Initiative, our division, and the campus as a whole.”
During their day on the Madison campus, the delegation met with representatives from the College of Engineering, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Division of International Studies, Brazil Initiative, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program, International Academic Programs, International Internship Program, Office of Admissions, and Division of Continuing Studies.
The Brazilian group also met with than a dozen faculty and graduate students from departments across the campus working in Brazil. The group was schedule to reunite with the two other Brazilian delegations in Washington, D.C., to compare experiences.
To learn more: Inside Higher Ed article about this program.