Brazil - U.S. International Education Initiatives

Education Cooperation Partnership Between the United States and the State of Pernambuco, Brazil



Map by Raphael Lorenzeto de Abreu

U.S. Department of State Press Release

Fact Sheet

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 3, 2012    
Citation: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/02/183132.htm
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Presidents Obama and Rousseff share a commitment to promoting an innovative U.S.-Brazil education partnership to meet the needs of a 21st-century workforce. Last year, both Presidents set complementary goals for international education. President Obama announced the "100,000 Strong for the Americas" goal to see the number of students from Latin America and the Caribbean studying in the United States increase to 100,000 and 100,000 students from the United States studying throughout the region by the end of the decade. Likewise, President Rousseff’s “Science without Borders” initiative to support as many as 100,000 students for international study over the next four years, with at least half coming to the United States, is a visionary approach to building and expanding Brazil’s role as a global leader. The two countries will reinforce their commitments to international education with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on educational cooperation between U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Thomas Shannon and Pernambuco State Secretary of Education Anderson Gomes, witnessed by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, on February 3, 2012. The following programs, including the MOU, demonstrate the broad educational partnership between the United States and Brazil.

Memorandum of Understanding on Educational Cooperation: The MOU covers a broad range of areas in education that the United States and Pernambuco support, including: “To enhance training (vocational and technical) and access to the labor market by using the English language as a tool for access to information and communication, enabling new forms of social interaction and cultural immersion; To promote the academic, cultural and technological exchange of students, teachers and other education professionals; To develop youth leadership; To exchange leadership management experiences in schools; To develop the teaching of the English language in the educational system of Pernambuco; and to promote social inclusion and diversity in education.”

“Win the World” program: On November 3, 2011, Pernambuco Governor Eduardo Campos unveiled an ambitious educational program for state high schools called “Win the World.” This program has three pillars: providing English language instruction to 24,000 public high school students; sending 1,000 outstanding English students overseas for six-month exchanges to the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada; and providing enhanced teacher training to approximately 450 English teachers statewide through the Department of State’s English Language Fellows Program. The U.S. Mission in Brazil, through its Public Affairs Offices and Regional English Language Office, has collaborated on and supports all three pillars.

Pernambuco English Language Fellows Program: The State of Pernambuco, in partnership with the U.S. Mission in Brazil, will host six Senior English Language Fellows to Pernambuco for the 2012 academic year to conduct teacher training courses that reach 450 public school teachers. The State of Pernambuco will provide approximately $250,000 in direct funding for the project as well as in-kind support totaling about $150,000. The U.S. government will fully fund one of the six fellows and will pay for international transportation as well as course materials, with a total investment of approximately $150,000.

English Access Microscholarship Program: Fifty students from Santos Dumont Public High School in Recife have received full scholarships for two years of English language instruction at the binational center Associação Brasil-América. Access students gain an appreciation for U.S. culture and democratic values through cultural enhancement activities and participate in leadership and volunteer activities outside the classroom. The program will continue this year, incorporating students from other schools.

The U.S. and Brazil solidified their joint commitment to expanding bilateral international educational initiatives on February 3, 2012 by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on educational cooperation between U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Thomas Shannon and Pernambuco State Secretary of Education Anderson Gomes.  This comes one year after Presidents Obama and Rousseff set complementary objectives for global education, which included the "100,000 Strong for the Americas" goal of seeing 100,000 students from Latin America study in the U.S. and 100,000 students from the U.S. study throughout the region.  President Rousseff has a supplementary initiative, “Science without Borders,” to support Brazilian students for international study over the next four years with at least half slated to study in the United States.  The press release concludes by listing the specific programs to take place within the state of Pernambuco all of which include an emphasis on English language education. 

In many ways these international education initiatives are mutually beneficial for Brazil and the United States; however, after reading through the specific educational programs to be instituted in Pernambuco, Brazil, I question the equity of the partnership. Who is benefiting the most from this educational collaboration? For example, the English Access Microscholarship Program gives select high school students scholarships for two years worth of English language instruction.  While learning English does have benefits in our increasing interconnected, globalized world, my concern lies in the secondary part of the English Access Microscholarship Program. According to the press release, through the curriculum students will “gain an appreciation for U.S. culture and democratic values through cultural enhancement activities and participate in leadership and volunteer activities outside the classroom.”  Exporting the model of U.S. democracy and fostering “appreciation” does seem to be more advantageous for one country in particular. Another key part of the educational collaboration is the teacher trainings for English teachers, which World System theorists might argue influences global homogenization of educational policy and practice.  World System theorists might also ask if this program is mediating and ultimately advancing the neoliberal agenda through encouraging an appreciation of U.S. culture and democratic values?

One final commentary to critique how President Rousseff’s “Science without Borders” initiative is quoted in the press release as “a visionary approach to building and expanding Brazil’s role as a global leader.” This quote highlights an assumption that for development to occur “knowledge” must be sought externally specifically, in the North.