A internacionalização da educação superior tem sido historicamente influenciada por modelos eurocêntricos, especialmente no contexto da criação da União Europeia (UE). Desde sua formação, a UE tem promovido a mobilidade profissional, diplomática e acadêmica, estabelecendo programas de mobilidade em escala supranacional e global. Iniciativas como o ERASMUS (1987), o Tratado de Bolonha (1999) e o Espaço Europeu de Ensino Superior (2010) pavimentaram o caminho para o surgimento das Alianças Universitárias Europeias, também conhecidas como European Universities Initiative (EUI), em 2017. A EUI visa fortalecer a cooperação acadêmica, fomentar a mobilidade interinstitucional e curricular, ao estabelecer redes estruturadas de universidade, consolidando uma agenda de internacionalização robusta. Esta iniciativa é um exemplo de como políticas públicas bem coordenadas podem promover uma internacionalização profunda, com apoio financeiro e político, além de um marco regulatório, curricular e de financiamento, que incentiva alianças transnacionais entre universidades, no contexto do Norte Global.
Em contrapartida, a educação superior e universidades do Sul Global ainda enfrentam desafios significativos para alcançar uma estrutura comparável em termos de políticas públicas de internacionalização. Nesse contexto, a proposta desta apresentação, explora como as parcerias entre instituições do Sul Global podem se desenvolver como uma alternativa promissora. Ao contrário da EUI, que conta com financiamento substancial e coordenação política centralizada, por meio da EU, as universidades do Sul-Sul têm um ambiente de menor apoio institucional e financeiro, tendo que, ainda desenvolver estruturas em diversos campos da internacionalização.
Nesse cenário, o Brasil possui um potencial significativo para desempenhar um papel central na promoção de uma internacionalização mais inclusiva no Sul Global. O país pode, por meio do desenvolvimento de novos programas e políticas públicas, tanto atrair como enviar estudantes, docentes, pesquisadores e trabalhadores para outros países do Sul Global, fortalecendo o intercâmbio acadêmico e científico, tanto pela mobilidade física e virtual, como também de inovações curriculares. O Brasil,  possuí iniciativas relevantes ao longo das últimas décadas, podendo explorar uma janela de oportunidade de políticas públicas, de expandir esses esforços, criando programas semelhantes aos da EUI, adaptados às necessidades e realidades locais. Esses programas podem incluir a formação de redes acadêmicas, projetos de pesquisa colaborativa, desenvolvimentos curriculares conjuntos e certificações, além de programas de mobilidade que incorporem a diversidade de saberes do Sul Global.
Espera-se que esta apresentação amplie o debate sobre internacionalização, promovendo o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas que fortaleçam as alianças Sul-Sul, com vistas a promover mais equidade, inclusão, inovação e sustentabilidade no campo acadêmico global.

UNESCO IESALC organized a bootcamp on the 2nd semester of 2024 inviting 10 universities of different Global South countries to participate. 
USP is the Brazilian one in this experience, including other universities from Latin America, Africa, Far East and Asia. 
The subject is STEM focusing on how multiculturalism and interdisciplinarity may contribute towards identifying problems and proposing solutions around key issues of the global climate changes (Sustainable Development Goal 14) but including also those addressed by the SDGs 4, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 17.
Each university could provide up to 10 groups, each one with up to 5 students from different areas. The program started in September running until the end of November and consists of two weekly remote sessions. The first one (synchronous for all) presenting interesting and general subjects to guide the groups on the development of their proposals. The second one, joining two groups from different countries working under supervision of a tutor, working on a prescheduled basis. Each group was assigned to a local supervisor, a professor from their home university, while a general supervisor follows all groups activities being a contact point to the organizers from UNESCO IESALC.
At the FAUBAI this process will be already concluded, allowing us to report the experience, how it was conceived, organized, and executed, as well as some achieved results and learned lessons. We intend to report these on reginal caravans, to spread the experience to other universities that may join other Global South Initiatives in the years to come.

The Internationalization of Higher Education (IHE) is a complex phenomenon shaped by the forces of globalization, neoliberalism, and colonialism (Altbach & de Wit, 2018). While IHE can provide benefits, it also risks reproducing inequities between the Global North and South (Gutierrez, 2013). Therefore, it is crucial to critically examine and challenge the dominant discourses and practices of IHE that privilege Western agendas and perspectives (Silva, & Pereira, 2022; Chakrabarty, 2018; Larsen, 2016), and to explore alternative ways of conceptualising, developing and implementing IHE that are more inclusive, collaborative, and transformative (Ansari, Hussain, & Geniat 2019).
This roundtable "Perspectives and Challenges for the Internationalization of Higher Education in the Global South: Race, Social Justice and Geopolitical Reparations", that it will be edited by Kleber Silva, Vilton Soares de Souza and Tamara Rosa, it will offer a unique and innovative -approach to the topic of IHE from the perspective of the Global South. It provides critical analysis of current IHE policies and activities, which often reinforce colonial legacies and neoliberal ideology. It proposes alternative ways of conceiving and operationalizing IHE that promote social justice and sustainability. This special issue will aim to contribute to this critical endeavour by bringing together voices of researchers from the Global South who share a common interest in decolonizing IHE. The special issue will adopt a critical applied linguistics (CAL) and decolonial framework (DF) that integrates linguistic, social, political, and educational dimensions of IHE, and a decolonial perspective that challenges the dominant Western discourse that reinforces power asymmetries between the North and South and proposes ways to reshape and empower IHE in the Global South. 
CAL and DF will aim to critically examine and challenge the power relations and ideologies that shape language policies, practices, and discourses in various contexts. CAL and DF also will seek to promote social justice and transformation through international affairs, language education, and awareness.Decoloniality on the other hand, is a school of thought that aims to delink from Eurocentric knowledge hierarchies and ways of being in the world in order to enable other forms of existence on Earth. It critiques the perceived universality of Western knowledge and the superiority of Western culture, including the systems and institutions that reinforce these perceptions. Decolonial perspectives view colonialism as the basis for the everyday function of capitalist modernity and imperialism. Decoloniality itself emerged as part of a South America movement examining the role of the European colonization of the Americas in establishing Eurocentric modernity/coloniality (Mignolo, 2011; 2018).
CAL and decoloniality are related in that they both question the dominant discourses and practices that privilege Western agendas and perspectives, and that marginalize and oppress other voices and experiences. They also share a common goal of reimagining alternative ways of knowing and being that are more inclusive, collaborative, and transformative. CAL and decoloniality can therefore offer useful tools and concepts for rethinking IHE from the standpoint of the Global South, and for promoting a more integrative, collaborative, and solidarity approach to higher education and language policies. 

The proposed session will share insights from a recently conducted national research study on internationalisation of public higher education in South Africa. The study, which was jointly commissioned by the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) and the British Council, marks an important milestone for South African higher education. As the first of its kind, it aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the current state of higher education internationalisation in South Africa and to assess the implementation readiness of the country's public universities regarding the first national internationalisation policy framework, which was formally promulgated by the Department of Higher Education and Training in late 2020. 


Based on the study's report, which was formally launched at the 26th Annual IEASA Conference in August 2024, the session aims to share research findings with a broader audience. Focussing on intentions, practices, opportunities and constraints, the session will offer reflections on how South African universities have aligned their institutional internationalisation policies and strategies with the national Policy Framework and on how their experiences can inform the internationalisation agendas and activities of universities in other parts of the Global South, including implications for future research.


If selected, the session will be presented jointly by Dr Samia Chasi as a representative of IEASA and a representative of the research team, which was led by Prof Felix Maringe, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg & University of Kigali.