Another 100,000 university scholarships announced

The Science Without Borders Program (Ciência sem Fronteiras) is moving to a new phase offering over 100,000 scholarships for study at overseas universities between 2015 and 2018, President Dilma Rousseff announced Wednesday (June 25).

Introduced in 2011, the scheme aims to encourage Brazilian students and researches to pursue international academic experiences and attract young, highly qualified researchers and senior faculty from other countries to Brazil. The initial milestone was to provide 101,000 scholarships – 75,000 funded by the public sector, and 26,000 funded by businesses in the private sector. So far, 83,184 have been granted.

According to the president, this target will be met as new grants are awarded in September this year. On Wednesday (June 25), 5,200 scholarships were approved by businesses, among which 5,000 will be provided by Petrobras.

“We are heading for a gradual integration between this and all other education, research and technology programs in Brazil. The scheme was designed to help Brazil drive innovation,” the president said.

The Education Minister, Henrique Paim, announced the outcomes of the program. Out of the total scholarships provided, 52% range between diverse fields in engineering. “It is a breakthrough for our country as we still struggle to advance in these areas.”

Paim went on to highlight the contribution of foreign researchers in Brazil. “As we have students coming from overseas, we realized that we still have to review and rethink our higher education. Out there they have a more hands-on approach, and that's what we're working on, too.”

The Science Without Borders is a policy of the Ministry of Education, which partners with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in 65% of the total scholarships provided. Priority areas are Hard Sciences, Maths, Chemistry, and Biology, Engineering, Technology, and Health Sciences.

Translated by Mayra Borges