Students at WIT began the new academic year in style and with great colour by celebrating Brazilian Independence Day.
Students at WIT began the new academic year in style and with great colour by celebrating Brazilian Independence Day.
“The Institute’s international student community now exceeds 850 students from over 70 countries and from all five continents”, according to Sinead Day, International Affairs Manager at WIT. Ms Day added that “the diverse student body contributes to the creation an exciting and dynamic learning environment at the Institute while also providing a most welcome economic boost for the city and greater region”.
WIT currently has the largest number of Brazilian students of any higher education institution in Ireland with some 220 students enrolled on a variety of Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral programmes across all academic schools.
To celebrate Brazilian Independence Day, staff and students at WIT were treated to a performance of contemporary and traditional Brazilian music by students of the Institute. The Brazilian national dish ‘feijoada’ (black bean stew) was served with Guaraná the favorite national soft drink.
WIT’s links with Brazil continue to grow and the Institute now has partnership agreements with twelve of Brazil’s top ranked universities including the world renowned Universidade de São Paulo (USP), UNESP and UNICAMP. These partnerships have led to collaboration in several areas including student and staff exchange and joint research projects. Ground-breaking joint research is underway in areas such as Engineering, Health Science, Telecommunications and International Education.
Next week sees Brazil coordinator at WIT, Don O’Neill, present findings of research being carried out at the Institute on the International student experience, at the European Association for International Education annual conference in Prague. Mr O’Neill’s research, in collaboration with academics from Brazil and the Brazilian Ministry for Higher Education, highlights the overwhelmingly positive experience that Brazilian students have enjoyed in Waterford. The students particularly liked the “care and attention” shown by staff at WIT, “the broad range of programmes available” and the “multi-cultural, friendly and pleasant environment” that Waterford offers as a city for international students.
Don O’Neill concluded by saying that “we look forward to developing closer ties with Brazilian universities in the coming year and to ensuring that all our international students feel at home in Ireland’s oldest city”.
See www.wit.ie/international for study opportunities.
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