Article - Dutch higher education mission to Brazil
Mar 17, 2010
Dutch universities visited Brazil last February and were impressed by the country and by the Brazilian higher education.
Nine Dutch higher education institutions visited Brazil between February 22nd and 27th in an official Dutch higher education mission to the South-American country. Nuffic and Nuffic Neso Brazil organized the mission, in contact with the two national university associations, the association of research universities (VSNU) and the association of universities of applied sciences (HBO-raad), due to the great and growing interest of the Dutch universities in Brazil and its higher education. The objectives of the mission were: to position the Netherlands as a country of high quality higher education, to intensively introduce Brazil and its higher education, to explore the possibilities of cooperation between Brazilian and Dutch higher education institutions and to open doors for exchange of professor, researchers and students.
Officials from five research universities (Leiden University, Tilburg University, University of Twente, VU Amsterdam, and ISS (Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam), four universities of applied sciences (HAN University of Applied Sciences, INHolland, The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences), and also from VSNU, HBO-raad and Nuffic participated. The delegation was led by Mr. Sander van den Eijnden, director-general of Nuffic.
The Dutch delegation visited the cities of, in this order, Brasilia, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In Brasilia, the delegation visited firstly the University of Brasilia (UnB) and ended the first day with a reception with invitees at the Dutch Ambassador´s residence. The second day in Brasília was totally dedicated to the especially organized Nuffic-CAPES seminar at the headquarters of Capes (Coordination of improvement of higher education personnel) in which rectors of six top Brazilian universities participated. The six universities, all federal universities, are of outstanding quality according to the official national evaluation done by the ministry of Education, but were too far out of reach from the travel possibilities of the Dutch mission.
The seminar started with presentations from the president of CAPES, mr. Guimarães, and mr. Van den Eijnden, followed by discussion rounds. Before lunch the State-secretary of higher education, mrs. Dallari joined the seminar and gave a presentation on the future of the Brazilian higher education and took time to answer questions and even joined the seminar attendees for lunch. After the lunch the seminar concluded with the individual presentations of the invited Brazilian universities and a discussion round.
In São Paulo, the mission visited the University of São Paulo (USP), which is considered the best university in Brazil according to the two main international rankings (Shanghai & Times), the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and the Institute Getúlio Vargas (FGV), the latter is one of the best private higher education institutions in Brazil according to the official national evaluation. All receptions were well organized by the Brazilian universities and gave the Dutch delegation a clear idea on the receiving institutions and their focus on internationalization. Besides that, concrete interest was shown on both sides to cooperate in certain areas. In the evening a Business drink, organized at the Dutch Consul-general´s house gave a broader view on Brazil, especially on the country´s fast growing economy, to the Dutch visitors.
The mission went then to Rio de Janeiro, where the delegation visited the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), which is considered the best catholic university in the country according to the national evaluation. Also in Rio de Janeiro the visits were well organized and led to concrete ideas on possibilities of cooperation.
Before leaving back to the Netherlands after an intensive week of work, the Dutch delegation took the Saturday to regain forces and to visit the beautifully located Christ Redeemer statue and the botanical garden of Rio de Janeiro.
The visits to the Brazilian universities and the Nuffic-Capes seminar gave a clear introductory understanding of Brazilian higher education in general, the system, the approach of the Brazilian universities and the focus of the internationalization of the Brazilian higher education. New contacts were made, but also existing contacts were further consolidated. The delegation reported in the evaluation lunch, held on Sunday, that Brazil had left a very good impression and that the visit to Brazil was an eye-opener for the strengths and the potential of the country.
Brazil, as one of the leading BRIC-countries, is an emerging country in many senses. Brazil offers probably the best chances for cooperation of the four BRIC´s, concluded the Dutch delegation. The political stabile situation of Brazil since 1985 brought calmness to the country and allowed government, business and civil society to refocus on development. This is not only noticeable in the fast growing economy but also in the fast growing demand for higher education. In the past ten years the enrollment in higher education increased by 134% (UNESCO, Brasília), mainly due to the fast rising number of private institutions. Although the participation increased to a total of about 5 million students, only 13% of the respectable age group (18-24 years = 24 million) is enrolled in higher education.
Brazil has a young population with fast improving means of living. The prospect for the coming years is thus of a massive demand for higher education. Europe/the Netherlands has been through this phase of massification and could help Brazil with its expansion and the access to higher education. Thinking of Europe, Brazil has a cultural tie with - and strong focus on Europe, notices the Dutch delegation. The cultural differences are almost non-existent in comparison to Asia, which makes cooperation a lot easier. Furthermore Brazilians are well informed about Europe, besides being very receptive.
Though, not only the emerging higher education and economy make Brazil an interesting partner for cooperation. The already consolidated universities, a part of them were visited or met during the seminar, are of noticeably high and sometimes excellent quality and could offer an interesting partnership to the Dutch universities in terms of reciprocal knowledge exchange and research cooperation. Brazil is leading in several knowledge areas and invests in research and education on various levels. Above all, the Brazilian institutions seem to have a similar way of thinking about internationalization of higher education, mainly focused on the exchange of information, creating a truly international academic environment to benefit (scientific) development. All these aspects left the Dutch delegation with a very positive impression of Brazil, and made them enthusiastic to -further- cooperate with the Brazilian higher education.
The mission is completed, but the mission objectives will continue. Nuffic will structure the shown interest on both sides through a special website. This website will have all the presentations of the Brazilian and Dutch universities prepared for the mission, an official report of the mission, a photo gallery and a forum, in which the higher education institutions from both countries will be able to find partners for cooperation and keep in touch with their counterparts.
The organization looks back on a successful mission and sees out to facilitate further cooperation between the two countries.