The mission included the launch of the Brazilian Ministry for Education funded ‘Science without Borders’ programme which will fund up to 4,000 undergraduate and 1,500 postgraduate students to pursue studies in Irish Institutes of Technology and Universities over the next four years.
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) took part in a highly successful trade mission to São Paulo and Brasilia from 8th to 11th October. The mission included the launch of the Brazilian Ministry for Education funded ‘Science without Borders’ programme which will fund up to 4,000 undergraduate and 1,500 postgraduate students to pursue studies in Irish Institutes of Technology and Universities over the next four years.
The launch ceremony, which took place at the Ministry of Education (MEC) in Brasilia, was officiated by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development of Ireland, Joe Costello. Don O’Neill from the International Office at WIT and James Clarke from the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) represented WIT.
During the ceremony, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between WIT and the Universidade de Brasília (UnB) providing for staff and student exchange and research collaboration between the two institutions.
The Irish delegation was involved in a number of individual events including the Enterprise Ireland and SFI Event “Celebrating the Success of Partnership and Forging Relationships for a New Generation of Scientists and Engineers.” During this event, James Clarke made a presentation entitled ‘Potential collaboration topics’ which included examples within the areas related to autonomic networks in the Future Internet and building international cooperation for Trustworthy ICT.
Don O’Neill met with several universities in the São Paulo area with a view to forging alliances under the ‘Science without Borders’ programme which will lead to the development of several new partnerships in the coming months. This alliance will add to WIT’s successful collaboration with Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia, São Paulo, which has been a partner university for several years.
The WIT representatives also met with WIT alumni, both Irish and Brazilian living in São Paulo. These include Paulo Melo, a graduate of the School of Business, who will be conferred with a PhD from WIT in January and Patrick Coughlan (New Ross) and Alistair Crawford (Tramore) both BBS graduates of WIT and now working in senior positions in Brazilian companies.
Dr Ruaidhrí Neavyn, WIT President said, “The ‘Science without Borders’ programme offers a unique opportunity for Brazilian students to spend a period of study in Ireland and WIT is very well placed to meet this demand. We very much look forward to working with our Brazilian partners and to welcoming more Brazilian students to WIT.”
Pictured (l-r): James Clarke, EU Strategic Liaison Manager, TSSG, WIT; Mark Ferguson, Professor, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland; Don O'Neill, International Strategic Projects Officer, WIT; Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland; José Geraldo de Sousa Junior, President, Universidade de Brasília – UnB and Marina Donohoe, Head, Education in Ireland, Enterprise Ireland
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