IIE to Lead Study Tour to Brazil

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The eighteen U.S. colleges and universities that the Institute of International Education selected for the 2012 Brazil initiative of IIE’s International Academic Partnership Program (IAPP) will travel to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Campinas, and Piracicaba from April 14-21, 2012. They are participating in a yearlong series of training activities to help each institution implement and sustain partnerships with institutions in Brazil. Their upcoming study tour will allow them to meet with potential partner campuses.

The group will visit public and private higher education institutions, and will meet with officials from the Fulbright Commission and other international organizations, and with Brazil’s Ministry of Education, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

The participating U.S. campuses are: Baruch College, CUNY; Brandeis University; Brookdale Community College; Chatham University; California State University, Fullerton; Daemen College; East Tennessee State University; Illinois State University; Monroe Community College; Monterey Institute of International Studies; Queens College, CUNY; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Stevens Institute of Technology; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth; University of South Florida; University of Toledo; and Washington State University.

IAPP provides strategic guidance on building effective and sustainable partnerships with the expectation that outcomes will vary from institution to institution. Partnership activities may include joint programs, student exchanges, or faculty linkages for collaborative research and teaching. Each institution has made a commitment to form a campus-wide task force to work on prospective partnerships, conduct an institution-wide inventory of activities pertaining to Brazil, and develop a strategic plan focused on partnership with Brazil. Each school will also work with a mentor from the IAPP Brazil Advisory Board, who can offer high-level input on its partnership strategy.

IIE’s Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education manages the International Academic Partnership Program, which was established in 2009 with an initial two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The launch of the 2012 IAPP Brazil initiative represents the partnership program’s expansion into a new region. Since 2009, two cohorts of U.S. institutions each have focused on building partnerships with institutions in India, and one on linkages with China. IAPP Brazil will continue to build on the success of previous years, harnessing lessons learned and leveraging IIE’s expertise in international higher education.

For more information on previous and current programs, including participating institutions, see www.iie.org/iapp.