SFU President Andrew Petter will join Canada’s Governor General David Johnston in Brazil next week at an international conference of academic leaders.

"The mission enables SFU to increase its visibility as a destination of choice for Brazilian students and to deepen its mutually beneficial partnerships in areas such as clean energy, business and innovation, digital media, and public health," says Petter.

The delegation—featuring a group of 28 university presidents—is attending the Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE), April 25 to May 2, under the auspices of the Association for Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). The group aims to raise the profile of Canada’s universities in Brazil and help improve academic and research links in support of Canada’s growing relationship with Brazil and Latin America.

While in Brazil, SFU will join three other Canadian universities—Concordia, Ryerson, and York—and the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo to announce $400,000 in funding for joint research projects. The partnership includes graduate student and faculty mobility opportunities.

SFU will also sign an agreement with the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), an internationally recognized centre of academic excellence in technology, health sciences, natural sciences, human sciences, and the arts.

Brazil is investing heavily in science, technology and innovation education: its Science Without Borders program will send 100,000 undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students abroad on international fellowships. Canadian universities, including SFU, will receive about 12,000 of these Brazilian scholars by 2016 for programs that include language training, academic study and internships.

SFU already has strong connections to Brazil (see backgrounder below). For example, a newly created Americas MBA for Executives will allow students to study management issues in each of the four largest economies in the Americas.

The program—a partnership between SFU’s Beedie School of Business, Brazil’s FIA Business School, Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, and the U.S.’s Vanderbilt University—launches in August 2012.

“These partnerships will foster deeper connections and create opportunities for researchers and students in both countries,” says Petter. “SFU’s growing, multi-faceted relationships with Brazil are one more way that we are engaging the world.”