The idea was debated during the Faubai 2024 Conference, which took place from April 21 to 24 in São Paulo and included the participation of representatives from the educational sector of 25 countries

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April 26, 2024 – Published 1 month ago
Updated: April 29, 2024, at 8:25 AM

José Celso Freire Junior, president of Faubai, at the opening of the event – Photo: Faubai/Publicity

An invitation to include new voices and new perspectives and to build an inclusive, plural, equitable, and sustainable internationalization of higher education translated into concrete actions. With this idea in mind, over 700 participants from 25 countries gathered this week, from April 21 to 24, at the Faubai 2024 Conference, an event that featured eight workshops, four major plenaries, and over 140 paper presentations. The overall concept was to expand institutional and academic relationships as an element of excellence and the need for the internationalization of higher education to be reimagined from a more inclusive perspective.

The four days of the conference, held in São Paulo by the Brazilian Association for International Education (Faubai), at the Rebouças Convention Center, had the general theme “Invitation for a New Journey,” aiming to encourage its participants to understand international cooperation from new perspectives. “From the role of universities in establishing bridges to the integration of critical, anti-racist, and counter-hegemonic approaches, seeking alternatives to address the challenges of building horizontal partnerships, we were able to envision paths for improving the quality and increasing the relevance of higher education in Brazil and worldwide,” highlighted José Celso Freire Junior, president of Faubai and chief advisor for external relations at São Paulo State University (Unesp).

The idea of building bridges guided the opening lecture of the event when Professor Eugênio Bucci, from the School of Communications and Arts (ECA) at USP, mentioned Sophocles’ Antigone: “The only king who rules in me is the one who builds bridges and destroys walls.” For him, this should be the role of universities and their internationalization, especially at the present moment when bridges are being torn down and walls built.

Also in the opening session, Rui Oppermann, director of International Relations at the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes), emphasized the importance of partnership with Faubai in discussions and initiatives for the internationalization of higher education in Brazil.

Decolonial perspective in internationalization

One of the highlights of the event was the plenary session with Samia Chasi, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Partnerships, and Research at the International Education Association of South Africa (Ieasa), who addressed the theme “Reimagining Internationalization from the Global South.” “We can and should be more critical. We need to redefine the internationalization of higher education from a decolonial perspective. The internationalization of higher education is an invitation to reimagine the world from the Global South, rethink concepts, and practices,” said Samia.

She spoke about Eurocentric concepts of internationalization and the role of the university as an appropriate space for inclusion and new definitions of the future. For Samia, contributions from the Global North should be considered, but it is necessary to promote plurality and consider local identities and other ways of knowing and thinking.

Another plenary, with the theme South-South-North Cooperation, the president of Capes, Denise Pires de Carvalho, highlighted the need for Brazil to have a national policy for the internationalization of higher education. She also emphasized the role played by Capes in financing and promoting international cooperation and mobility, as well as the importance of Faubai in this process carried out by Brazilian institutions.

The importance of public policies for higher education was also discussed by Ana Lúcia Pereira, Director of Policies and Programs for Higher Education at the Higher Education Secretariat of the Ministry of Education (Sesu-MEC), who emphasized Brazil’s interest in dialogue on internationalization with reciprocity and partnerships.

Also participating as speakers were the Secretaries-General of the International Association of Universities (IAU), the Association of Portuguese-Speaking Universities (AULP), and the Association of African Universities (AAU), respectively, Hilligje van’t Land, Cristina Montalvão Sarmento, and Olusola Oyewole, as well as Nicolas Patrici, Director of Strategic Development at Obreal Global.

Building Internationalization

This was the 35th edition of the Faubai event, an entity created in 1988 that brings together managers and officials responsible for international affairs from over 200 Brazilian higher education institutions. The objective is to promote the integration and training of managers, seminars, workshops, regional, national, and international meetings, in addition to the annual conference.

Renée Zicman, executive director of Faubai, highlights “the contribution of the event to the conception and construction of a more inclusive and plural internationalization of higher education, with less unequal forms of cooperation and with a critical view, inviting us to rethink concepts and practices and to act differently.”

Faubai also promotes Brazilian higher education institutions, both in the country and abroad, alongside other entities, agencies, diplomatic representations, international organizations, and programs.

With information from the Executive Board of Faubai