Brazilian Days – opening – Thursday September 29, 2011
Welcome
Ladies and Gentlemen – welcome to you all.
First, I want to extend a special welcome to H.E. Ambassador Goncalo
Mello Mourão. The embassy has a close, longstanding relationship to
Aarhus University through the academic community around the Latin
American Department. We are honored that you have taken the time to
support this event and contribute to these important discussions on how
to increase collaboration between Aarhus University and Brazil.
I am also very glad to see so many members of our strong research
communities here today. This presents a unique opportunity to share
knowledge and experiences and strengthen our network across institutes
and disciplines.
Latin America has always been close to my heart. After working as a
Increased focus from
professor in the region in the 80’s I returned to Denmark for a few years
the Ministry
before getting reacquainted with Latin America In the early 90’s when I
joined a position in the World Bank. Here I helped design and evaluate
sector investments in higher education especially in Latin America.
Through my 13 years in the WB I got to experience firsthand the
development of higher education in the region. There was no doubt that
Brazil was a very important actor and highly on the move. However, no
one could have foreseen the development Brazil has gone through in
recent years. With unprecedented growth rates and a higher education
sector home to some of the strongest universities in Latin America – even
the world – Brazil today is an engine of growth and innovation in the
region and one the most important innovation clusters in the world.
The result is that today, everybody is looking towards Brazil. In the
Danish Ministry for Science Technology and Innovation we see an ever
increasing focus on the country – manifested most recently by a
ministerial delegation, which I among others participated in, to establish
partnerships and strengthen corporation between Brazilian and Danish
higher education and research. This delegation will be followed by
several additional delegations with the objective to establish still stronger
alliances between our two countries. To support this, the Danish Agency
for Science Technology and Innovation will station a research attaché in
Sao Paolo from October 1st this year to facilitate collaboration between
research communities in Denmark and Brazil.
Strong BRA studies
programme
AU has always supported these initiatives by The Ministry and will
continue to do so – but as you can see today we will not stop here. That
Brazil is a very interesting country and home to world class research
institutions comes as no surprise to Aarhus University. We have long
standing collaboration with strong Brazilian partners, and research
activities have been steadily increasing through the recent decade. We
see the number of co-publications with Brazilian Researcher rising
steadily – especially with health and the natural sciences. But we know
that there is potential for much more.
Some of you who are present here have already been part of research
delegations to Brazilian universities and more delegations will follow in
order to strengthen our existing partnerships – and to build new ones.
We are already seeing some of the results from this increased
collaboration. In February we signed into an agreement with University
of Sao Paola. This agreement opens for student exchange and research
collaboration with one of Latin Americas strongest universities. To give
you an idea of the potential of University of Sao Paolo, in just ten year
they have increased the number of publications by 100%.
The increased interest in Brazil is not only from research communities
but also from students. Students who wish to use one of our exchange
agreements to spend some time during their study at a university in
Brazil - but also from students who want to learn about Brazilian culture
and language. Aarhus University is home to the only Brazilian Studies
Programme in Northern Europe, and this year they have experienced a
record enrollment.
It is worth mentioning that as a Master’s degree student of Brazilian
Studies you do not only study the Brazilian language and culture – You
also acquire in-depth knowledge of Brazil’s role in a globalised world, its
infrastructure, culture, politics and society, as well as the country’s
relationship with other societies.
Later in the afternoon Associate Professor Vinicius de Carvalho will give
you a presentation of the experiences from Brazilian Studies and inform
you about the resources present at BRA Studies, AU.
Along with his colleagues, Vinicius has been an active part in building a
strong academic community around Brazilian Studies that I am sure can
be of benefit to entire university by sharing their expertise and
knowledge of Brazilian society and culture with other researchers with an
interest in this area.
Knowledge sharing
and strengthening
networks internally
Networking
This afternoon is part of a bigger event under the headline Brazilian Days
organized by Vinicius and his colleagues. The idea is to celebrate
Brazilian culture and tradition and to meet new and interesting people.
In this spirit, This meeting will open the Brazilian Days event and I hope
you will all stay after the meeting where we will host a small reception
with refreshments,. Here you will have the opportunity to network.
The reception will be downstairs in the Lobby area in front of the
beautiful mosaic created by Erik A. Frandsen.
I hope that this afternoon will kick-start network among Aarhus
University researchers and students with an interest in Brazilian
education and research – and that it will result in even stronger
collaboration between Brazilian higher education institutions and Aarhus
University in the future.
With these words I give the floor to H.E, Ambassador Gonçalo Mello
Mourão, who have honoured us with his presence.
Welcome