Strategic Cooperation

Interest in learning Portuguese among speakers of other languages has increased over time for various reasons. Brazil stands out in this context, not only for political and economic factors but also for its society, culture, biodiversity, and natural resources. Mayer (2015) discusses the numerous factors that have contributed to the growth in the number of Portuguese language learners since the early 2000s. The author points out that, since 2001, with the formation of the BRICs - Brazil, Russia, India, and China - Brazil has been viewed from a new perspective in international relations, recognized as a "developing country that stands out for its rapid industrial development and, consequently, for its growing political and economic influence in global and regional scenarios." Although the pandemic from 2020 to 2023 and the serious political situation experienced by Brazilians from 2019 to 2022 posed challenges, Brazilian universities sought ways to continue growing and expanding their partnerships within the context of internationalization. During this period, many lessons were learned, and intercultural dialogue came to be understood as an essential factor in the development of global citizenship in higher education. Given this context, this paper discusses an experience in teaching Portuguese language (PL) to students at Wrocław University of Science and Technology in Poland, which has approximately 25,000 students. This experience involved offering an introductory online PL course for speakers of Polish as their first language and English as their additional and/or foreign language. In addition to the majority of Polish students (80 undergraduate and postgraduate), there were also four Ukrainian and Belarusian students. The project included six undergraduate students studying Languages/Letters, two students in the master's program in Linguistics, the coordinating professor, and three collaborating professors, all from the University of Passo Fundo in RS. The objective of the course was to encourage the learning of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) to promote intercultural dialogue and foster closer relationships between institutions and their students. As a result, the proposal yielded several contributions to those involved. For Brazilian students, in particular, the practice of using English as a lingua franca and as a medium of instruction was both unusual and significant. Moreover, the group was able to enhance their knowledge and use of technologies for teaching languages in a virtual format, while systematically researching, adapting, and creating teaching materials for Portuguese as an additional international language. The differences and similarities among the three languages led to varied interactions and learning experiences, allowing students from both institutions to dynamically and productively include or expand the international dimension in their curricula.

In Higher Education, internationalization is used as an overarching term that encompasses a great number of initiatives in teaching, research, outreach and management. It does assume very different connotations in each context, reflecting diverse elements such as institutional profile and capabilities, organizational culture as well as broad geopolitical shifts, governmental policies or funding availability. Internationalization strategies and goals vary greatly among universities, but there are some common characteristics, challenges and opportunities which are often shared by those from the Global South, in contrast to those shared, in a broad sense, by universities from the Global North. The peripheric position Global South universities (henceforth, GSUs) occupy on the global science and higher education system normally produces a passive overall approach to internationalization, in which it is common for GSUs to simply replicate agendas and practices from the Global North and not being able to exercise proper agency in international partnerships.
This paper addresses how this issue has been addressed by UNICAMP, particularly through two integrated strategic projects, implemented between 2021 and 2024. These projects were conceived in response to suggestions resulting from an assessment of an external evaluation committee in 2019, also assimilating elements of the project of the current management of Unicamp and associating the actions envisioned with the ideas generated from the university's Strategic Planning exercise for 2021-2025. 
Two strategic projects were designed: (i) Strengthening Unicamp's image on the international scene; and (ii) Expanding Unicamp's institutional protagonism in international research networks.
Within the scope of the first of these projects, actions were centered on carrying out missions abroad, always with the presence of the Rector and representatives of different academic units. The choice of units participating in each mission is based on the profile of potential collaborations identified in each country. Six priority countries were selected to carry out missions within the scope of this strategic project, all of which have now been completed: Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, China, and Italy.
The second strategic project carried out by DERI, "Expanding Unicamp's institutional protagonism in international research networks," aims to stimulate connections around topics of interest to the university based on contacts built during missions conducted within the scope of the first project.
The project generated a call for proposals to stimulate the development of research projects in collaboration with selected universities considered as relevant partners. This call for proposals recognizes the necessity of expanding Unicamp's role in international research networks. Rather than promoting an open, demand-driven call, we opted for designing a call centered around a specific topic ("Sustainable and inclusive development"). 
We consider these strategic projects to be important milestones in the institutionalization of Unicamp's internationalization efforts. Besides the strengthening of international cooperations, it also shows that universities from the Global South may shape their own agenda, moving forward from the traditional passive approach that is still so common among most of them.

TUM launched its Global South Initiative in 2023. With this initiative, TUM aims to further expand its strategic international commitment and tackle global challenges by collaborating with key partners in the Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The Global South strategy seeks opportunities for partnership on eye-level, including pooling resources and combining expertise  to advance innovative approaches to SDG linked challenges that we are facing worldwide.
The author will present the initiative and ways to cooperate and interact with TUM researchers in the framework of the TUM Global South initiative, as well as provide examples of current projects, and background on the strategy itself. 


Intended Outcome:
·The focus of this presentation is to share experiences and best practices in setting up and running projects between the Global North and the Global South as well as to present ideas for topics and programs to cooperate for universities and research institutions. 
Target group:
·This roundtable is open for all professionals and academics interested in multilateral research and academic projects; especially for universities/research institutions in the Global South.