Sustainable Cooperation Brazil-Norway: a case study based on UTFORST and Intern Abroad projects

This presentation discusses the challenge of stablishing a long-term and sustainable cooperation between Norway and Brazil, involving higher educational institutions and enterprise partners operating in these two countries. Brazil is one of Norway’s priority countries for cooperation in higher education and research, which also includes China, India, Japan, Russia, and South Africa. The main reason for the interest in these countries is that they account for a major and increasing share in global knowledge production, hence of the strategic interest for Norway’s ambition in competitiveness and innovation capability.
Our case study is based in one UTFORSK project co-funded by the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku) and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Brazil, plus two Intern Abroad projects entirely funded by Diku, Norway. The higher educational institution partners in our group are USN and NTNU in Norway, UFRJ, PUC, IME, and UERJ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UFSC in Santa Catarina and UNIVALI in Itajaí, Brazil. We have also international enterprise partners with business interests in Norway and in Brazil, namely Kongsberg Maritime, TechnipFMC and Roxtec.
The UTFORSK is our pilot project, started in 2017, and originally funded for two years, now renewed for an additional two-year period (2019-2020). Through this project, we have implemented several activities involving student and staff exchange, including research and joint supervision at all levels, from bachelor through master and PhD to post-doctoral candidates.
The Intern Abroad projects (2018-2019) for business and engineering students have as main goal to recruit students from USN for internships in private businesses/industry in Brazil - both in Norwegian and Brazilian companies. Combining studies an internship placement abroad bring important benefits to the students, namely gaining international experience, acquiring new knowledge and skills, and learning more about what it takes to succeed working in a foreign country. Presently we has interns in Kongsberg Maritime do Brazil, TechnipFMC, and Roxtec. To facilitate the implementation of these programs, we have signed exchange agreements with PUC and UERJ, while agreements with other partners are under consideration.
Our presentation will conclude by emphasizing the success and sustainability of our cooperation, how we managed to establish and grow our network, and the possible ramifications leading to other exciting joint international projects. We believe that the experience we have gained is worth sharing, and more details will be given during our presentation.