Visit provides an important opportunity to showcase the excellent quality of Irish higher education
The Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan TD, has today begun a visit to Brazil. The country is the world’s fifth largest in terms of population, and is a foremost priority in the context of the Government’s trade stategy.
Historically, Ireland has not had a large presence in the country. Minister O’Sullivan’s visit - the first time an Irish Minister has led a St. Patrick's Day visit to Brazil - will help to raise Ireland’s profile, including raising awareness of the education opportunities on offer here. A key priority will be to highlight the excellent quality of the Irish higher education sector.
Under Brazil’s Science Without Borders (Ciência sem Fronteiras) programme, 100,000 Brazilian students over a four-year period are being funded to study abroad for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as for doctorates. The scheme is designed to address workforce skills gaps in Brazil.
To date, 2,000 students have attended Irish institutions under the programme, with another 1,100 due to begin studying here in September. A total of 22 Irish higher education institutions are currently participating in the scholarship scheme. The Minister is being accompanied on this education mission by representatives of 9 Irish higher education institutions.
The Minister’s visit will provide an important opportunity to promote Ireland’s participation in Phase II of Science Without Borders.
Some events the Minister will be attending include:
16th March- Meeting with Science Without Borders officials
Meeting with the Brazilian Minister for Education
17th March- Formal opening of “Commemorations of 150 years of Yeats” conference at the University of São Paolo
Meeting with Presidents of Brazilian and Irish universities
18th March- Meeting at Kerry Foods (a division of the Kerry Group) headquarters
Visit to Unicamp, University of Campinas. Unicamp is the second-ranked Brazilian university, and a key partner for several Irish institutions.
19th March- Visit to Icon Clinical Research facility Meeting with the president of FAPESP, the São Paolo research foundation.
ENDS.