Science without Borders (SwB) is known as Ciencia sem Fronteiras (CsF) in Brazil, where students are recruited to participate in international exchanges. SwB aims to foster the training of students at the best educational institutions and foreign research institutions. This program promotes the internationalization of science and technology, stimulates the studies and research of Brazilian students abroad, and increases exchanges and mobility for students in their undergraduate or graduate years.
Launched in 2011, the program primarily receives funding from the government of Brazil. The initial cohort was expected to be 101,000 Brazilian students to study in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) sector by 2015. During that time, the Brazilian government funded 75,000 scholarships with a further 26,000 being funded by the private sector. In June 2015, President Dilma Rousseff announced a second phase of SwB, which will place another 100,000 students in institutions around the globe to study STEM.
SwB is implemented by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), a Brazilian government agency. CAPES asked CICan to administer SwB in Canada. Through its extensive membership network, SwB students were accepted to CICan member institutions where they participated in language and academic studies and subsequently completed an internship.
SwB scholarships are intended mainly for Brazilian students and researchers and entail one year of undergraduate study, PhD internships, full-time PhDs, postdoctoral and professional education awards, senior fellowships and visiting researchers/scholars abroad. There are no specific scholarships targeting Brazilian students at the master’s level. The program also offers opportunities for individuals from abroad to conduct research in Brazil.
This project has already proven quite successful and continued to grow this year (2014) with 32 Canadian colleges across the country hosting 620 Brazilian SWB students. Source: CICan 2014-2015 Annual Report
- 101,000 Brazilian students study STEM.
- 100,000 new scholarships announced in June 2015.
- Aimed at stimulating innovation and building international partnerships.
- SwB students study English or French (2 months); Academics (8 months) and participate in a practical internship (4 months).
- By 2015 Canada will welcome 12,000 Brazilian students at the undergraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral levels.
- Canada is among the top 3 partner countries of the program.
SwB or CsF is funded by the Government of Brazil. The program is a joint effort of both the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) through their respective funding agencies, namely the Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education of Brazil (CAPES) and the National Council for Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq).