São Paulo – A delegation from the Federal University of the State of Paraná (UFPR) travelled to Lebanon last week and signed a cooperation agreement with Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (USEK) to promote exchange of professors and students. The partnership is part of the UFPR’s programme for internationalizing teaching.
"Lebanon is a strategic country. Despite the political issues, the country has been developing and our teaching systems are alike," said professor Alzir Feippe Buffara Antunes, in charge of international relations at the UFPR. According to him, in addition to the partnership with the USEK, an exchange agreement with Saint-Joseph’s University, in Beirut, is about to be signed as well.
The Brazilian delegation also visited the Lebanese University. "I am very optimistic about the talks," said Antunes, who also believes that an agreement should be signed with the Lebanese University, the only public institution among the three that have been visited. According to him, Lebanese universities receive a lot of foreign students, especially from Europe.
The USEK has several academic partners in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. The institution also has a Centre of Latin American Studies and Cultures, whose purpose is to diffuse and stimulate knowledge of Latin America. The centre is directed by Brazilian researcher Roberto Khatlab, who attended the signing of the agreement between the universities.
At the USEK, the delegation from Paraná was received by the dean of the university, Hady Mahfouz, who signed the agreement and touched on the importance of student exchange bt the universities. "This meeting with the UFPR’s delegation is an occasion to explore different possibilities of academic cooperation between the two institutions," said Mahfouz, in a statement passed on by Khatlab.
According to the researcher, Latin America is one of the regions that welcomed a large share of immigrants from Lebanon and the Middle East, and now it has strong human relations with Lebanon. The Brazilian ambassador in Lebanon, Paulo Roberto Tarrisse da Fontoura, accompanied the Brazilian delegation during the visits.
UFPR
The Federal University of the State of Paraná, in Curitiba, is one of Brazil’s oldest, established in 1912. The institution offers graduate, specialization, master’s, doctoral, extension and research courses. Under the teaching internationalization programme, the UFPR already maintains cooperation agreement with Latin American countries, with which it already carries out exchange programmes.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
