Secretaria de Relações Internacionais | Office of International Relations

Photo: EdTech Hackathon Release.

The undergraduate student in English Language and Literature  at UFSC, Vitor Pluceno Behnck, was part of the award-winning team of the first edition of German-Brazilian EdTech Hackathon – Digital Education, which took place between 22 and 24 August at the Goethe-Institut, in Sao Paulo. The event gathered  German mentors and organizers with skilled hackers from all over Brazil.

The project created by the team is called Tech_Ia and proposes the development of an application for teaching music in an accessible manner. In addition to Behnck, the team was composed by professors and students from several institutions: Igor Borges, from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Priscilla Prueter, from the Universidade Federal do Paraná; Johanna Kirchner, from the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná; Alice Xavier, from the Universidade Federal de Itajubá; and Igor Niemeyer, from the Universidade Federal de Lavras.

“Tech_Ia is an educational solution to introduce music education, especially for children. It is a project of a website that has challenges and teaches you the basics of music notation and rhythm, step by step. In addition, there is the possibility of using a low-cost keyboard that we developed”, explains Behnck.

The event aimed to promote debate on news and experiences with digital transformation in teaching at universities and schools. It was organized by the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU), by the start-up re:edu, by the Society for Academic Study Preparation and Test Development (g.a.s.t.), by the Technische Universität München (TUM), Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin), and by the Goethe-Institut São Paulo, in addition to the collaboration of the German Center for Research and Innovation in São Paulo (DWIH-SP).

The 29 participants proposed technological solutions to current challenges in digital education. During three days, they carried out activities such as workshops, lectures, pizza dinner, hacking sections, project pitching sections, evaluation by the jury, and an award winning ceremony on the last day of the event.  The winners received a certificate and an invitation to participate in the German-Brazilian Innovation and Sustainability Congress, organized by the German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which will be held on 29 and 30 September, in São Paulo.

According to Behnck, the Hackathon was an enriching experience. “I was able to see my field of study intersecting with several others, which was very important for me since I am enrolled in the last semester of the program. I recommend everyone to follow SINTER’s website and social media to get to know the opportunities beyond the university walls, which was what I did”, he affirms.

Click here to go to the UFSC International Opportunities page.

The Institutional Center for Languages and Translation (NILT) offers the course “La carta de motivación en Español” [The motivation letter in Spanish]. The aim is to guide participants on how to prepare a motivation letter in Spanish to apply for academic mobility programs. The course will cover the following topics: analysis and identification of the parts of a motivation letter; formality and informality; forms of address; greeting and farewell formulas in Spanish; selection and organization of information relevant to the letter; lexicon and appropriate contents.

• Course type: online, through Moodle Groups.

• Period: from 14 September to 7 October.

• Time: synchronous classes will take place on Wednesdays, from 3 to 5 pm, and the asynchronous activities on Fridays.

• Registrations: from 24 August to 12 September, through the link http://inscricoes.ufsc.br/carta-motivacao-espanhol-nilt.

• Note: materials, classes and activities will be in Spanish. Thus, the participants must have reading and writing proficiency in Spanish.

• If you have any questions, please contact espanhol.nilt@gmail.com.

Welcome to the French Conversation Group! If you are interested in news related to the francophone world and its different cultural aspects, this discussion group is for you. In weekly meetings, we will discuss and work together on several themes associated with the francophone culture. Thus, you will be able to practice your French while learning how to structure your arguments during a debate. The meeting will be in table ronde [round table] format, in which everyone will have to defend their arguments to strengthen their critical thinking and train their debating skills in French.

Course objective: This course aims at engaging the students, offering them the possibility of giving their opinions in French about subjects pre-defined by the teacher or by the participating students.

DATES: every THURSDAY from 10 to 11:30 pm. The meetings will be held in-person,  in the Institutional Center for Languages and Translation (NILT), Rectorate Building II (Av. Desembargador Vitor Lima, no. 222)

Start date: 5 September 2022.

Register here until 2 September.

The Office of International Relations (SINTER) held a Welcome Session, on 22 August, for international students arriving at UFSC for the second semester of 2022. The session took place at the Rectorate Building Auditorium, on the Trindade Campus, in Florianópolis. The event aimed to broaden the reception to the entire international student community at UFSC. Thus, in addition to the exchange students, the event was also targeted at all degree-seeking international students on campus.

From left to right: Prof. Dilceane Carraro, Prof. Irineu Manoel de Souza, Prof. Joana Célia dos Passos and Fernanda Leal.

UFSC community gathered at the Rectorate Building Auditorium to welcome international students.

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On 11 August, staff members of the Office of International Relations (SINTER) participated in the workshop “Taller de Capacitación para Gestoras y Gestores de Programas ESCALA de AUGM” [Training Workshop for Administrators of AUGM ESCALA Programs]. The ESCALA Programs promote academic mobility of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and administrative staff members, aiming to create a widened academic network between the 41 public universities that are members of the Asociación de Universidades Grupo Montevideo [Association of Montevideo Group Universities] (AUGM) in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru.

All the ESCALA Programs are reciprocal and encompass assistance during mobility. The AUGM calls for 2023 and SINTER’s Call for Applications will be announced from September on. Also in September, SINTER will promote a seminar to inform the university community about those opportunities for international mobility.

To learn about the AUGM ESCALA Programs, follow the links below:

Escala Estudiantes de Grado (targeted at undergraduate students)

Escala Estudiantes de Posgrado (targeted at graduate students)

Escala Docente (targeted at faculty members)

Escala Gestores y Administradores (targeted at administrative staff members)

On 22 August, the Office of International Relations (SINTER) will hold a Welcome Session for the international students, who will attend the second academic semester of 2022 at UFSC. The event will take place at the Rectorate Building (I) Auditorium, on the Campus Trindade in Florianópolis, at 2:30 p.m. The university will welcome 122 international students next semester. In addition to the welcome speeches, the session will include important information about UFSC for the newcomers and cultural activities.

This year, the event aims to extend the reception to the entire international community at UFSC. Thus, in addition to the international students in mobility at UFSC, the welcome session is also targeted at all regular international students, including the participants of specific programs coordinated by SINTER (such as the Escala Estudiantes de Grado and Escala Estudiantes de Posgrado of the Asociación de Universidades Grupo Montevideo [Association of Montevideo Group Universities] (AUGM) and the Programa Estudante-Convênio de Graduação (PEC-G).

Check the schedule for the event in Portuguese and in English.

On 22 and 23 September, the QS Higher Ed Summit: Americas 2022 will take place in Vila Velha, Espirito Santo. The congress will announce the official Latin American University Rankings 2023 and will award institutions from the entire continent in the following categories:

• Reputation Impact
• Research Excellence
• New Entrant
• Top 10
• Recognition of Improvement

The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) will be awarded in the Research Excellence category and will be represented by the acting Prorector for Research, Prof. William Gerson Matias. The conference will gather higher education leaders and experts to discuss the “Mission-led Universities: elevating higher ed in the Americas”. The event will feature debates, lectures, panel discussions and case studies, in addition to the opportunity to network with the international higher education community and build strategic partnerships.

In the QS World University Rankings 2023, UFSC was ranked for the eleventh consecutive time and placed among the thousand best universities in the world. The ranking is produced annually by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a British company specialized in education. The methodology is based on several criteria, including Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, Citations per Faculty, International Faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio.

Access the QS Higher Ed Summit: Americas website here.