From April 16 to 21, the city of Fortaleza hosted the 28th edition of the Faubai Conference, an annual event addressing Brazilian and Global tendencies and best practices for international education. This year the main theme was social responsibility in the process of internationalization of universities.

More than 600 people from 93 countries attended the conference on dozens of plenary and parallel sessions. The first day of the event was dedicated to a series of workshops addressing topics like management of international relations offices, successful experiences of academic credit recognition, and opportunities for Brazilian universities abroad.

Sunday’s conference, on April 17, was officially opened by John Hudzik, from U.S., with a lecture titled Internationalizing Brazil’s Higher Education Institutions: Many Institutional Pathways, Opportunities for All. Hudzik, who wrote a series of books on internationalization of higher education, highlighted the importance of introducing the process of internationalization into all areas of the university in order to turn ideas into practical action.

“Today Brazilian universities already encompass teaching, research, and extension. Internationalization should not be seen as one more function, but as a value to be added to those and to all other responsibilities of the institution,” says the manager, who has been working on this subject since 1998, when he assumed the post of dean of International Programs and Global Engagement at the Michigan State University. After that, Hudzik served as president of the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) and of the Board of Directors of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), two of the main organizations dealing with the internationalization of higher education in the United States.

MSU’s professor suggests that a culture of institutionally supported internationalization should be encouraged inside the university so that this process is not restricted to international relations offices. Also important is designing consistent projects that can be accomplished in a feasible manner.

For Hudzik, internationalization is a trend that will not be reversed in the next few years, despite the economic crisis. Based on global data, he considers that middle-class growth and the interest shown by private higher education institutions should give the necessary impetus to the process. “What we have seen, based on data from other countries which experienced periods of economic turbulence, is that recession didn’t impact mobility numbers so seriously,” professor says optimistically.

Social Responsibility

Social responsibility was a central theme throughout the event, with sessions around experiences of minorities in the process of internationalization or discussions about the role of European higher education institutions in tackling the refugee crisis, one of the most important issues facing the continent today.

One of the lectures addressed Germany’s situation in the face of this crisis. Throughout the year 2015, Germany took in almost one million refugees, which led the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) to create programs to award scholarships at partner universities in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan or Iraq, since refugees are mostly hosted in Syria’s neighboring countries. In Germany, universities have made efforts to identify these refugees’ skills and offer them preparation courses for college admission tests and language courses, as well as a program designed for Syrian young leaders.

According to Christian Müller, director of the DAAD branch office in Rio de Janeiro, the refugee issue has forced German universities to review their concept of science-oriented education. “They don’t like to be seen as professional education institutions, but it is important to solve the problems concerning this group’s education with a view to their integration in the local labor market”, he argues.

Social Inclusion and Internationalization

At the plenary session on the inclusion of minorities in the process of internationalization, Arlene Jackson, who runs Global Initiatives at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), emphasized the need to diversify internationalization strategies in order to make this process more inclusive.

“Short-term mobility sees the largest increase in the U.S., as it allows inclusion of working students, student mothers, and students from low-income families,” says Jackson, who manages an association representing more than 400 higher education institutions in the U.S. “Those are groups which cannot afford to stay away from their home countries for an entire year.” For Jackson, universities need to be innovative when selecting their partners and give priority to institutions which develop minority-inclusive programs.

Extension

Use of technologies to promote international interactions is the basis of a project developed by Coventry University in the United Kingdom. The project presented by the director of international relations Lídia Martinez is part of a Master’s degree program called Humanitarian Engineering and Computing, which uses Engineering and Computing resources to seek community-sensitive solutions to problems.

The projects, which initially focused only on the local community, became global with a partnership with the Faculty of Industrial Engineering (Faculdade de Engenharia Industrial, FEI) in São Paulo. “Students from both universities started to work in groups in order to find solutions to problems in their own communities. Everything is discussed and planned using communication tools, without face-to-face meetings,” explains Lídia, who also points out the originality of this initiative. The University projects include developing water-efficient toilets and educational games for children.

“Many academics in Coventry University are engaged in Humanitarian Engineering. The recent international engagement is helping to strengthen this community-sensitive policy inside the university,” she explains.

brings together over 560 participants to discuss the internationalization of higher education

International meeting held in Fortaleza, Ceará state, included speeches, workshops and matchmaking sessions between Brazilian and foreign institutions.

The Brazilian city of Fortaleza hosted the 28th Annual Conference FAUBAI 2016 – Brazilian Association for International Education, from April 16 to 20, which brought together representatives involved in the internationalization of higher education in Brazil and worldwide.

The Conference was attended by over 560 participants – half of whom were from 29 countries, representing all continents¹. The general theme was Social Responsibility in the Internationalization of Higher Education and discussions were held on issues related to diversity, reciprocity, minorities and global citizenship, amongst other important challenges, aimed at promoting more inclusive internationalization.

During the five days of the event, the participants were able to accompany 38 parallel sessions involving a total of 92 presentations of studies covering issues related to the internationalization of higher education.

Ten pre-conference workshops were held and provided opportunities for participants to discuss issues related to Managing an International Relations Office, Leadership and Strategies, Global Learning, English as a Medium of Instruction, and Virtual Exchange Internationalization Initiatives, amongst others.

FAUBAI 2016 welcomed world famous specialists in the area of the internationalization of higher education, such as John Hudzik, former Vice-Rector of Global Engagement and Strategic Projects of Michigan State University and author of the book “Comprehensive Internationalization: Institutional pathways to success”. He gave the key-note speech, advocating internationalization as an imperative for higher education institutions which should be available for all.

Issues such as reciprocity in international cooperation, internationalization and minorities, the strategic role of the Portuguese language in multilingual educational contexts and cooperation within the BRICS were addressed during the plenaries.

The opening session of FAUBAI 2016 was attended by representatives of the associations of Federal Universities (Andifes), State and Municipal Universities (Abruem) and Communitarian Universities (ABRUC), the Federal University of Ceará and the Ministry of Education, thereby highlighting the priority being given to internationalization on Brazil´s Higher Education agenda.

The final plenary session “Global Dialogue” brought together the President of FAUBAI along with representatives of important international education associations such as NAFSA (the largest association for international education in the world), EAIE (European International Education Association), IEASA (South Africa), Campus France and CONAHEC (North America). They jointly recognized the existence of different ways of understanding and undertaking the internationalization of higher education, a process should always be carried out to improve people´s living conditions, particularly in a world which is undergoing such rapid and profound transformations but remains extremely unequal. This requires a democratic, inclusive and multidimensional internationalization process and demands a new concept for the social role of the higher education institutions.

The event also provided a forum for the players in the internationalization process to meet and establish new partnerships. Three matchmaking sessions were held with over 50 tables organized to allow foreign institutions to make direct contacts with the Brazilian higher education institutions.

The FAUBAI 2016 conference received the sponsorship of important institutions involved in the internationalization of higher education, such as Latino Australia Education, British Council, French Embassy, ETS – Educational Testing Service, American Embassy, ExportAR Argentina, DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service, and Education in Ireland, amongst others, as well as the CAPES – Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, and the Brazilian Ministry of Education.

The next annual conference FAUBAI 2017 will take place in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, from April 8 to 12, 2017.

To the north of the city lies the Atlantic Ocean; to the south are the municipalities of Pacatuba, Eusébio, Maracanaú and Itaitinga; to the east is the municipality of Aquiraz and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west is the municipality of Caucaia. Residents of the city are known as Fortalezenses. Fortaleza is one of the three leading cities in the Northeast region together with Salvador and Recife.

The city was one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Additionally, Fortaleza was one of the host cities of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

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.