São Paulo – International organization AFS Intercultural Programs has opened applications for Brazilian students to study in Egypt for a month. The opportunity is focused on students exceling in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and is supported by BP, an oil, natural gas and renewable energies company.
The BP Global Stem Academies program is in its third edition and involves students from several countries. Applications are open until March 9, 2020 in the AFS website. Ten Brazilian students will be chosen to go to one of three destinations – Egypt, United States, or India – where BP operates.
The interchange will run in July and aims to prepare the young students in the STEM topics. The selection includes an online phase and an interview with AFS team. During the program, the participants will interact with professionals of STEM areas; visit oil refineries, gas processing plants, and alternative energy facilities; and attend geology, robotics, architecture and climate change classes.
The students will stay in local family homes. “Besides all the STEM study, they will get to know Egyptian culture, make visits and tours. And improve their language skills, have Arabic classes,” AFS communication and marketing coordinator to Brazil, Andreia Laplana, told ANBA.
Spots are distributed by the Brazilian regions where BP operates. Four scholarships are offered to the state of Amapá; two for Ituiutaba (Ituiutaba e Gurinhatã), Minas Gerais; two for Itumbiara (Itumbiara and Cachoeira Dourada), Goiás; and another two for the so-called Tropical region (Edeia, Porteirão, Acreúna, Indiara and Turvelândia, Castelândia and Santa Helena), Goiás. And there are also spots reserved for BP employees’ children, who can reside in any location in Brazil.
When coming back, the exchange program participants are expected to produce a video or text on the experience. “I learned about robotics, and concepts of programming and microbiology. We worked on projects focused on the UN Sustainable Goals. We learned a bit of Arabic, too. Back in Brazil, I can see now that my intercultural skills have developed much further,” student Emanuelle Morais (pictured above) reported on her testimony; she participated in the exchange program in Cairo in 2019.
Egyptians in Brazil
AFS offers spots for foreign students to come to Brazil, too. In 2019, the institution welcomed 37 scholarship winners from over 20 different countries, including six from Egypt. “The students stay at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. The 4-week experience includes classes, experiments and lectures in the institute. The students also visit solar, wind and thermal plants in Rio Grande do Norte,” Laplana explained.
The Egyptian selection has no restriction on cities or states the students must live. The application form is on AFS Egypt website.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
