The sharing of good practices amongst Europe and Brazil in the field of the Internationalization of Higher Education Management and, more specifically, the role of language policies and of Multilingualism in the internationalization of Universities, were among the main themes debated on a meeting organized under the Sectoral Dialogues projectheld in Brasilia, last November.

The Project to support the implementation of Sectoral Dialogues Brazil-EU is headed by CESO and aims at deepening and enhancing the EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership and bilateral relations between the parties by supporting the development of sector dialogues on issues of mutual interest.

Promoted by the Brazilian Ministry of Education, the I International Meeting of the Languages without Borders program: Internationalization and Multilingualism allowed the participation of several European professors from various universities to present their workshops on this subject. This was the case of the Professors Elspeth Jones from Leeds Metropolitan University /England –, Carla Salvaterra, from University of Bolonha /Italy –, Richard Stenelo, from Lund University /Sweden, Ingrid Saint-Georges from University of Luxembourg, and, finally, Giorgio Marinoni from the International Association of Universities

The initiative took place under the Program Language without Borders which is currently underway in Brazil. It aims at promoting student mobility in order to provide Brazilian students opportunities of access to universities in countries where higher education is driven partially or totally, through foreign languages.

Various individuals and entities were present in the opening ceremony of the I International Meeting. Among them we highlight the European Union Ambassador to the Brazil, João Cravinho and Aloizio Mercadante the Brazilian Ministry of Education.

Ambassador Cravinho highlighted the importance of the Without Borders Program and considered it “as a necessity”. He also guaranteed that Brazil "can count on the European Union as enthusiastic partner" of the initiative. On the other hand the Brazilian Minister Marcadante who was responsible for the launch of the Program in 2012, stressed its importance to the exchange of Brazilian teachers with other countries.

The First International Meeting of Languages without Borders Program: Internationalization and Multilingualism was organized in partnership with the EU-Brazil Sectoral Dialogues Project, which was coordinated by the European Union Delegation in Brazil and by the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management from Brazil.

To know more about this project, please click here.

December 2015

Photography: courtesy of © Projeto “Apoio aos Diálogos Setoriais UE – Brasil