Building bridges with Brazil
26 January 2012
Research postgraduate Alexandre Strapasson (Environmental Policy) worked for many years in the Brazilian federal government and shares his views with Reporter about the Brazilian educational strategy in science and technology and the creation of the Imperial College Brazil Forum, of which he is the Chairman:
“Brazil has a lack of engineers and technicians to supply the job market and, in order to tackle this, the Brazilian government has come up with a number of initiatives; for example, getting existing universities to increase their intake of students and, in some cases, building new universities.
The government’s most recent initiative has been to launch a scholarship programme called Science Without Borders, which aims to give undergraduate and postgraduate students the experience of studying abroad in top-ranking universities. Its target is quite ambitious: to implement 75,000 international scholarships in four years, of which 10,000 are expected to be at universities in the UK.
Imperial has less than two dozen Brazilian students, but this number is expected to increase in the coming years. Several academics at the College have been working on research projects with Brazilian institutions, such as the University of São Paulo and the University of Campinas. Both sides have much to offer and to benefit from collaborating, given that Brazil has strong expertise in research areas such as renewable energies, deep offshore oil, aeronautics, environmental sciences, mining, agriculture and medicine.
Last year the Brazil Forum was set up to bring together Imperial students and academic staff who are currently working with Brazilian institutions or are interested in Brazilian issues. Everybody is welcome, regardless of nationality. The Forum aims to promote new synergies and innovation by enhancing collaboration among its members and Brazilian academic partners. The Embassy of Brazil in London, the British Embassy in Brasilia and the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain are partner institutions in the Forum. Brazil has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and its efforts in science and technology, education and research present exciting opportunities for UK universities.”
Join the Brazil Forum or find out more here
Tags: Centre for Environmental Policy
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