Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil
FAUBAI 2015 gathers 600 participants to discuss about the internationalization of higher education (versão em português)
The International Conference took place in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, involving lectures, workshops and matchmaking sessions between Brazilian and foreign institutions
The city of Cuiabá received, between April 25th and 29th, FAUBAI 2015- 27th edition of the Annual Conference of the Brazilian Association for International Education (FAUBAI), that gathered representatives in internationalization of higher education from Brazil and the world aiming to deepen the discussion on how to ensure more equitable forms of cooperation between countries and institutions in the field of Higher Education.
This year’s edition was the largest ever, bringing together more than 600 participants, with more than 350 foreign representatives coming from 36 countries from all the continents. FAUBAI 2015 had the support of international organizations from the field of internationalization of higher education, such as Latino Australia Education, British Council UK, French Embassy, American Embassy, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), besides CAPES and the Brazilian Ministry of Education.
The event’s opening had the presence of Mato Grosso’s governor, Pedro Taques, the Minister of Higher Education, Work and Employment from New Zealand, Steven Joyce, and the Federal University of Mato Grosso’s (UFMT) rector, Maria Lucia Cavali Neder, besides the president of FAUBAI, José Celso Freire Júnior.
Throughout the five conference days the participants were able to follow more than 40 parallel sessions totalizing 114 presentations of works, that had approached questions related to the internationalization of higher education. Six workshops regarding important questions about the process of internationalization in Brazilian institutions of higher education, such as guidance for international relation offices that are still in process of formation and strategies to insert the international dimension inside the campus and benefit those students, which not yet took part of mobility programs.
The event also made room available so that the actors of this internationalization process could meet and establish new partnerships. Therefore, FAUBAI 2015 reserved three days of matchmaking sessions, where 80 tables were available in order to foreign institutions to be in direct contact with the Brazilian institutions.
FAUBAI 2015 also received specialists with recognized experience within the world higher education for six plenary meetings. Jamil Salmi, Moroccan economist who during 17 years was Coordinator of the World Bank for higher education and main author of the World Bank’s new Strategy for Higher Education, intitled “Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education”. Based on his experience having collaborated in the development of educational politics for more than 60 countries, Salmi presented the role of the internationalization in the improvement of perfomance of Brazilian universities.
In the last plenary meeting at FAUBAI 2015, Bertrand Monthubert, rector of the University of Toulouse III and president of the French Committe of Evaluation of Universitary and Scientific Cooperation with Brazil (COFECUB), presented the newly elaborated French strategy for the development of higher education in the country, in which he was the general reporter.
Subjects as the impact of Brazilian students of international higher education, the use of English as instruction language and the ‘commodification’ of higher education had also been handled in the plenary meetings by representatives of the Universities New South Wales, Birmingham, Oxford and ETS – Educational Testing Service.
The panel “Global Dialogue” between representatives of international education associations from all represented contries in the event – NAFSA (largest international education association in the world), AMPEI (Mexico), KAFSA (South Corea), IEASA (South Africa), AASCU (USA) and CONAHEC (North America) – closed FAUBAI 2015, enhacing the necessity to guarantee more sustainable and equitable cooperation forms among higher education institutions from the North and the South hemispheres.
The next edition of the annual FAUBAI conference will take place in Fortaleza in the State of Ceará from April 16th to 20th 2016.
Conference Venue
Av. Bernardo Antônio de Oliveira Neto, s/nº – Bairro Jardim Santa Marta – Cuiabá/MT – CEP 78043-903
National Organizing Committee
- José Celso Freire Junior, UNESP
- Vitor Alevato do Amaral, UFRJ
- Renee Zicman, FAUBAI
- Vanessa Bonini, UNAERP
- Leandro R. Tessler, Unicamp
Local Organizing Committee
- Paulo Teixeira de Sousa Junior, UFMT
- Joíra Martins, UFMT
- Odilio Virgilio Costa, UFMT
- Paula Caroline de Moraes Pacheco, UFMT
- Luciana Queiroz, UFMT
Program Committee:
- Leandro R. Tessler, Unicamp (chair)
- Aderson do Nascimento, UFRN
- Alfa Omar Diallo, UFGD
- Margie G Rauen, Unicentro
- Rita de Cassia Barbosa Louback, PUC-Minas