Marcelo Blaz—Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Student Marcelo Blaz joins Temple University from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul in partnership with the Brazilian Government’s Scientific Mobility Program. Blaz is among the approximately 650 Brazilian undergraduate students are arriving in the United States to study at U.S. campuses with funding from the Brazilian Government’s Scientific Mobility Program. The students will study for two semesters at one of more than a hundred U.S. colleges and universities across the United States, and will take part in a summer internship.

Marcelo Blaz studies information systems at his home university, but while attending Temple University is engaged in the study of computer and information science as well.

“I’ve always wanted to live and study in a different country and the Scientific Mobility Program has enabled me to achieve that,” Blaz said. “This program has allowed me to leave my ‘comfort zone’ and experience life abroad, living with different people and cultures. I’ve faced a lot of challenges and learned a lot from them. One of my goals is to attain fluency in English.”
“What I like most about the program is that I am able to focus uniquely on my academic studies. In Brazil it is common to work during the school year, but since the Brazilian Government sponsors [the program] I have been able to spend more time studying and living the university life.”

An additional 1,500 students are scheduled to arrive later this year for programs beginning in Summer or Fall 2012, including pre-academic training during the summer. The number of U.S. institutions hosting these students is expected to increase with the arrival of the next cohort of students.

The Scientific Mobility Program, announced in August 2011, provides scholarships to undergraduate students from Brazil for one year of study at colleges and universities in the United States. Scholarships are being given primarily to students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Students in the program will return to Brazil to complete their degrees.

This undergraduate scholarship program, administered by the Institute of International Education, is part of the Brazilian government's larger initiative to grant 100,000 scholarships for the best students from Brazil to study abroad at the world’s best universities. The program is sponsored by the scholarship foundation of Brazil’s Ministry of Education, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). IIE has been working closely with CAPES and with colleges and universities across the United States, including Temple University to place the students in US study programs that best meet their academic needs.

 “We are pleased to be partnering with the Government of Brazil and with the U.S. host campuses to implement this important program,” said IIE's President and CEO Allan E. Goodman. "At a time when Brazil’s economy is expanding rapidly, and Brazil and the United States are forging unprecedented ties in trade, energy and scientific development, we look to higher education as another area where our two countries should seek much stronger cooperation.”