The internationalisation of higher education in Brazil: analysis of a Spanish-Brazilian scientific cooperation project in CAL

Abstract

[EN] Over the past few years, the internationalisation of Higher Education has become a priority in Brazilian educational policies. The importance of internationalisation has become apparent thanks to numerous initiatives, ranging from the increase in funding for graduate and postgraduate research stays abroad to projects of scientific cooperation between universities in different countries. In this context, this paper explores a scientific cooperation project developed by two universities in Brazil and Spain: the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), relating to the field of Computer-Assisted Learning (CAL). First of all, the internationalisation of the Brazilian Higher Education will be discussed, and the different initiatives - such as the Ciencia sem Fronteiras (Science without Borders) Programme launched by the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) - will be presented. Following that, the paper will focus on the original proposal for the ongoing cooperation project between the UNICAMP and the UPV and on the results obtained until now. Next, the initiative will be analysed with special attention to the importance and the impact that internationalisation has made on Brazilian higher education. Finally, the authors will further explore the ways in which cooperation projects such as the one dealt with in this paper contribute towards the improvement of education. This improvement is mainly due to factors such as: fostering the integration of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) into teaching-learning practices; investing in teacher training in their home countries and abroad; and encouraging the development of high-quality multimedia materials and authoring tools. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu