Brasília – President Dilma Rousseff has promised for the second half of the year the release of the program that plans to take 75,000 Brazilian students abroad on master’s, doctors and graduate scholarships. When faced with this scenery of internationalisation of higher education, the National Education Council (CNE) has started discussing the revision of rules for revalidation of foreign diplomas in Brazil. Today, the process is bureaucratic and long and, often, those returning to the country after a season of studies abroad do not manage to get their documents recognised, which makes professional operation more complex in some areas.
Currently, the process takes place in a decentralized manner: the Law for Guidelines and Bases for National Education (LDB) determines that it is up to public universities to validate diplomas granted by a foreign institution, be they for graduate, masters or doctoral studies. Each one establishes its own criteria that may include analysis of the curriculum, a test or even the demand that the student sit some extra disciplines in Brazil. In some cases, the student starts the process in more than one institution to increase his chances of getting a diploma.
Among the possibilities under discussion is that of easier recognition in the case of students who travel abroad under grants by public organisations like the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) or the Foundation for Improvement of Higher Education Students (Capes), as, in these cases, the quality of the course and of foreign institutions was certified for concessions of scholarships. There is also a possibility of creating common criteria or general guidelines so there may not be so much discrepancy in processes. Barone points out that it will be necessary to call all organisation and institutions involved in the process to articulate the change.
*Translated by Mark Ament
