OUI-IOHE Blog

The IOHE authorities from the Brazil region
discussed the initiatives for 2012
and the joint work to be done in the planning of the CAIE Brazil 2012.

Florianopolis, December 8^th, 2011 – The Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (OUI-IOHE) held a regional assembly for its Brazilian member universities on December 7^th in Florianopolis, Brazil. Held under the presidency of Professor Alvaro Toubes Prata, President of Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and IOHE regional Vice-President for Brazil, the meeting had the following aims: to present the results of the organization’s initiatives in Brazil for 2011, and to create a discussion space for the exchange of ideas about events and projects for the forthcoming year (2012).

Spotlight on Brazil, host of the Americas

The Executive Director, Dr. Patricia Gudiño, first presented the IOHE results for 2011. These included the participation of Brazilian universities in IOHE missions in Europe and in China, plus the recent mission of Canadian universities to Brazil and the implementation of new initiatives in the three IOHE programs (COLAM-IGLU-CAMPUS).  Furthermore, the national committee for the coordination of CAIE Brazil 2012 – represented by the President of Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Prof. Roberto Salles, and the Vice-president, Prof. Sidney Mello – highlighted the developments of the upcoming event in April, which will mobilize the entire academic community from Brazil. They also outlined the state of advancement of the program and logistics for the CAIE Brazil 2012. More than 500 participants from all over the hemisphere and from other regions are expected to attend this large-scale event in Rio de Janeiro from April 25th to the 28th, which is of strategic importance for the creation of a common space for higher education in the Americas.

“The CAIE Brazil 2012 will propel the whole country throughout the Americas”, stated Prof. Prata, who also holds the position of Vice-President of the Board of Rectors of Brazilian Universities (CRUB) and of the National Association of Leaders of Higher Education Federal Universities (ANDIFES). He also stressed that Brazil is now the world’s 7th largest economy, and that in this context the CAIE is a golden opportunity for Brazilian experts to network with their counterparts from the Americas, i.e. with the aim of exchanging ideas about best practices in the internationalization of higher education — an important challenge for Brazilian universities.

To ensure that these aims are reached and to contribute directly to this common space, the IOHE Vice-President for Brazil also highlighted the need for developing joint activities between partners of the CAIE, namely CRUB, ANDIFES, the Association of Brazilian Universities’ International Relations Offices (FAUBAI) and UFF. To fulfil the objectives of this collaboration, the Assembly agreed to work towards joint action lines for the CAIE Brazil 2012 in such a way that both common and individual goals can be met.

In view of bringing together as many partners as possible for CAIE Brazil 2012, the call to member universities of IOHE-Brazil will be extended in order to show all the cooperation potential with Brazil in the field of higher education. The universities of the Rio de Janeiro region have already confirmed their active participation in the activities of this Inter-American conference.

Finally, the IOHE agreed to take advantage of next April’s meeting to plan the regional assembly for members from Brazil. The focus for the forthcoming year will be on IOHE initiatives in the country, with a special emphasis being placed on the academic offer of the Institute of University Management and Leadership (IOHE-IGLU/Brazil) and on internationalization and innovation in higher education.

For further information, please contact:
Francis Brown
Assistant in the IOHE General Secretariat
Telephone: 514-343-6111, ext. 3775
fbrown@oui-iohe.org