UEA and the French Embassy establish a partnership for Indigenous International Mobility

Amazonas State University (UEA) and the French Embassy in Brazil are negotiating their collaboration on the Indigenous International Mobility Program, which is being supported by the Consulate General of France in São Paulo, Brazil. By means of this initiative, indigenous UEA graduate students of all fields of study will have the opportunity to study at a French university for up to six months with a 800 euros study grant and other benefits like travel insurance.

Dr. André Zogahib, Rector of UEA, and Dr. Vanúbia Moncayo, International Relations Office Director (ARI-UEA), had a virtual meeting with Prof. Nadège Mezié, Science and Technology Attaché at the French Consulate, on the last 3rd of January, with regards to both discussing specifications about the agreement and planning the next steps to be taken towards the program.

According to Dr. Zogahib, the call for application to the Indigenous Student Mobility Program is scheduledto begin in the first trimester of 2023. “Working with this matter essentially means starting the interculturality process within the university. This is related to a differentiated view regarding different cultures. It is an excellent opportunity to bring students closer to environments that may seem distant from their reality. From this perspective, we can bring different cultures and knowledge together as a way to provide students different places to explore”, he said.

Currently, UEA has 762 indigenous students enrolled to undergraduate courses. About the next steps to take, Vanúbia Moncayo, ARI’s Director, points out that now there will be internal meetings at the University, especially about the post-graduate institutional programs in order to cement the partnership agreement.

“The program will be open to all fields of study. The bestowed students will be able to improve their understanding in another language. I always say that the study of foreign languages allows for the discovery of new worlds and new identities. The program will be a crucial initiative for the democratization of knowledge. Then, we will be developing interculturality within the university.”

Qualification

Besides having an undergraduate degree, the indigenous student needs to have a basic level of French to participate in the program. Seeking to promote students the access to interculturality, ARI is about to launch the project “Deforeignizing” to internationalize: UEA Preparing Citizens for the World’, which offers language courses to students interested in mobility programs. One of the project’s French course classes will attend solely the university’s indigenous students with the goal to linguistically prepare them for aforementioned mobility program.

Source: Daniel Brito/Ascom UEA

English Version: Committee of English Translation/Interpretation of the International Relations Office, Amazonas State University.

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