Supporting the Internationalisation of Higher Education through English

With the aim of making a positive contribution to the Higher Education internationalisation agenda in Brazil, the British Council promotes and supports initiatives around English language policies as part of the Internationalisation process. The objective of this talk is to present and discuss the findings of two such initiatives. Firstly, the UK-BR English Collaboration Call, that is, a £100,000.00 call for proposals in applied research of English in secondary and tertiary education done in partnership with the Brazilian National Council of State Funding Agencies (CONFAP). In this presentation, one of the authors will give an overview of the call, challenges faced, and lessons learnt through the process of implementing such an initiative. She will also briefly present the scope of the 9 approved projects and how their findings will be disseminated once projects are completed. The second discussed initiative is the Guide “English as a Medium of Instruction in Brazilian Higher Education Institutions 2018-2019”, developed in partnership with the Brazilian Association for International Education (FAUBAI). In its second edition, the guide offers a comprehensive account of programmes, courses and activities delivered in English by Brazilian public and private Higher Education institutions (HEIs), including courses of Portuguese for Foreigners. In this presentation, one of the authors will present the main findings within the guide, reflecting on the ever-growing effort of these institutions to internationalise.