PULLMAN, Wash. Five Brazilian undergraduate students arrived in Pullman this month to begin a year of study at Washington State University under the Brazilian government’s new “Science Without Borders” program.
The scholarship awards program, through which approximately 650 Brazilian undergraduates are studying at universities across the United States, provides the students with scholarships in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Once their overseas studies are completed, the students return to Brazil to complete their degrees.
Laurie Quiring, International Programs coordinator for enrollment and academic services, worked with several WSU offices to assist the five Brazilians in enrolling at the university.
“I am very impressed with their qualifications,” she said. “One of the students has already secured a spot with WSU’s orchestra playing the violin, another has been offered an internship experience in pharmacotherapy and a third has been given permission to take some graduate level courses in engineering.”
Administered by the New York-based Institute of International Education (IIE), the undergraduate scholarship program is part of a larger initiative by the Brazilian government to grant 100,000 scholarships to its best students to study abroad at the world’s best universities.
The program is sponsored by the scholarship foundation of Brazil’s Ministry of Education, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). IIE has been working closely with CAPES and with colleges and universities across the United States to place the students in programs of study that will best meet their academic needs.
Prema Arasu, WSU vice provost and associate vice president of International Programs, said the university has not had any undergraduate students from Brazil studying on campus in more than two years.
“It was collaboration with WSU’s Office of Admissions and the Registrar’s Office that allowed us to be one of the first few institutions to partner with IIE to host these students for spring 2012 entry,” she said.
Allan E. Goodman, IIE president and chief executive officer, said, “At a time when Brazil’s economy is expanding rapidly, and Brazil and the United States are forging unprecedented ties in trade, energy and scientific development, we look to higher education as another area where our two countries should seek much stronger cooperation.”
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WSU contact:
Prema Arasu, WSU Vice Provost & Associate Vice President, International Programs, 509-335-2543, prema.arasu@wsu.edu
Prema Arasu, WSU Vice Provost & Associate Vice President, International Programs, 509-335-2543, prema.arasu@wsu.edu
IIE contact:
Sharon Witherell, Institute of International Education, 212-984-5380, switherell@iie.org
Sharon Witherell, Institute of International Education, 212-984-5380, switherell@iie.org