Internationalizing a Brazilian Public University: Challenges, Early Experience and Expectations for the Future

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Internationalization in higher education is not an end in itself. Rather, it is a means for a achieving a more rewarding end, which is providing a global flavor for education, research and outreach activities in a university. Particularly, when it comes to internationalization at home, the goal is to make intercultural experiences and global understanding and thinking possible for the university community, mostly for students, but also for academic and administrative staff. The idea is to break the paradigm that only the lucky minority who travel abroad will be able to expand their mindset by interacting with different people and being exposed to different cultures.

No matter how profitable the outcomes of internationalizing at home might be, currently it is still a challenge, mainly for a large country with a large non-English-speaking population like Brazil. In addition, state-funded public universities all over the world usually have a mission related to national development that makes them look first into themselves and into their own countries. Lack of adequate governance and flexibility to pursue their own values is also a concern. In other words, the sort of action frequently needed to make their own campuses bear an international atmosphere might be considered against their mission, or might affect psychologically the university community. Teaching in English is a good example of unavoidable aspect for internationalization that frequently puts itself against the sense of patriotism or national pride. For a Brazilian university, usually international partners argue that their students cannot speak Portuguese and therefore they cannot send mobility students to us.

At the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) some steps for internationalization at home have been taken and more are expected to come true in the following years, with initiatives targeting at students, as well as at academic and administrative staff. For students (graduate and undergraduate) the main steps was taken in 2014 with the approval of internal regulations in the Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Councils for allowing classes to be taught in English with very small limitations. UFABC has an innovative pedagogical plan that provides multiple levels of flexibility for students to tailor their own academic careers. As a result, more than a half of the courses are elective. The rule for teaching courses in English says that required courses must be taught in English as long as at least one class is simultaneously taught in Portuguese. Elective courses are free to be taught in English. This is a small step for creating a friendlier and inviting environment for international students. So far, 15 courses have been offered in English and there is much more to come. A direct effect of this initiative is that now it is easier to negotiate with partners for receiving mobility students at UFABC.
Yet, attracting degree-seeking international students is still a challenge, because Brazilian public universities are free of charge for all students, but they have to master the Portuguese language to pass universities’ selection processes.

On the other hand, UFABC has innovated the public selection process for academic staff, by allowing any candidate to choose to make exams in Portuguese or English back in 2013. Also, the selection process for visiting professors is entirely digital and does not require candidates to be physically present at UFABC. In order to make life easier for non-Portuguese-speaking students and professors, UFABC is offering English classes for administrative staff.

In this session, a set of initiatives for internationalization at home will be presented and discussed, as well as a preliminary assessment of our experience and the outcomes, highlighting lessons learned and identifying potential paths to the future.

Author(s):

Carlos Kamienski    
Federal University of ABC (UFABC)
Brazil