NEW YORK and SAO PAULO, October 29, 2012—The Institute of International Education has selected fourteen U.S. colleges and universities for the 2013 Brazil initiative of IIE’s International Academic Partnership Program (IAPP). They will participate in a year-long series of training activities to help each institution implement and sustain partnerships with institutions in Brazil, culminating with a study tour to Brazil in spring 2013 to meet with potential partner campuses.
The participating U.S. campuses are: Arizona State University, Ball State University, California State University – Long Beach, Central College, Fort Hays State University, Indian Hills Community College, Morgan State University, Parsons The New School for Design, Savannah State University, SUNY Plattsburgh, The University of Tulsa, Washington and Jefferson College, Webster University, and Western Michigan University.
IIE’s Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education will guide the campus representatives through a strategic planning process in the current academic year, to prepare for forming partnerships with institutions in Brazil. This group will also benefit from the experiences of a previous delegation of high-level officials representing 18 U.S. higher education institutions that IIE led to Brazil in April to meet with potential partner campuses and learn about Brazilian higher education.
IIE’s President and CEO Allan E. Goodman said, “At a time when Brazil’s economy is expanding rapidly, and Brazil and the United States are forging unprecedented ties in trade, energy and scientific development, we look to higher education as another area where our two countries should seek much stronger cooperation.”
These partnership programs offer timely resources for campuses in both countries to explore areas of academic cooperation, including exchanging students and scholars and collaborating on research projects and degree programs. Earlier this year, the White House and the State Department issued statements on the importance of educational cooperation between the U.S. and Brazil during Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s visit to the United States, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Brazil to explore further ways to expand U.S.-Brazil bilateral cooperation in regional and global issues, as part of an ongoing dialogue at a ministerial level on economic, educational and diplomatic issues.
Brazil has become increasingly important to US higher education with the creation of the Brazil Science Mobility Program (BSMP) by the Brazilian government a year ago. This multiyear initiative will send 75,000 fully funded Brazilian students abroad for training in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, with an additional 25,000 scholarships to be funded by the private sector. Working with the Fulbright Commission, Brazil’s Ministry of Education, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), IIE has placed nearly 2,000 undergraduate students from Brazil at U.S. campuses in the first year of this program, and an additional 2,500 per year are expected to come to the United States over the five years of the program.
IIE launched the International Academic Partnership Program in 2009 to help colleges to develop the partnership aspects of their strategic plans for internationalization, and IIE has led delegations to China and India in the past few years. Recent research and reports issued by IIE’s Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education have highlighted the increasing importance of strategic international partnerships to building the capacity of the institutions and providing a global environment for students and faculty.
About the Institute of International Education
The Institute of International Education is a world leader in the international exchange of people and ideas. An independent, not-for-profit organization founded in 1919, IIE has a network of 18 offices worldwide and over 1,000 member institutions. IIE designs and implements programs of study and training for students, educators, young professionals and trainees from all sectors with funding from government agencies, foundations, and corporations. IIE also conducts policy research and program evaluations, and provides advising and counseling on international education and opportunities abroad.
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