Fordham University has entered into a partnership with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and two Brazilian universities as part of a federally funded project to develop a bilateral exchange program for business students.
The four-year project, funded with a $209,000 grant from U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), will make it possible for Fordham and UMass Amherst students to study in Brazil at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (the Jesuit University of Rio), and the Universidade Federaldo Paraná in Curitiba. Students at the Brazilian universities will also have the opportunity to study at Fordham and at UMass Amherst. Both the American and Brazilian students will study alongside native students and all coursework will be taught in the host country’s language.
Janet Sternberg, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication and media studies, is heading the project at Fordham. Sternberg grew up in Brazil. The four-university consortium will focus on developing socially responsible business leaders by emphasizing cross-cultural ethics, social responsibility and sustainable growth. Sternberg said that she expects the first Brazilian students to arrive at Fordham in the fall and Fordham students to travel to Brazil in the spring of 2008.
The grant is part of FIPSE’s U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program, which sponsors projects promoting institutional cooperation and student mobility between the two countries. The program is jointly administered by FIPSE and the Fundacao Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) division of the Brazilian Ministry of Education.
By Victor M. Inzunza
