The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) participated in the IV International Forum on Human Rights, organized by the Association of Montevideo Group Universities (AUGM) Human Rights Chair, between 23 e 25 October 2024, at Universidade Nacional de Quilmes (UNQ), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Professor Juliana Viggiano, from the Department of Economics and International Relations, represents UFSC in the Chair and took part in the event which had as its theme “The university as a human right – building democratic spaces and solidarity resistance”.

Opening panel of IV International Forum on Human Rights, organized by the AUGM Human Rights Chair

The forum´s program includes panels and discussions between academics, civil society representatives and activists, who discussed challenges and strategies for strengthening human rights in higher education. The opening panel featured Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and the keynote speech by Dr. Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni, who addressed the role of universities in tackling in inequalities and promoting democracy. The closing lecture, led by Professor Dr. Victoria Kandel, from the Universidade Nacional de Lanús, reinforced the need to make human rights education a continuous and integrated practice to fight against hate speech.

Human Rights Chair metting

Juliana Viggiano also took part in the annual meeting of the Human Rights Chair, where the representatives of the member institutions discussed strengthening the exchange of faculty, students and administrative staff in the area of human rights. The review of the Chair’s 2024-2026 Triennial Plan and the proposal for greater coordination between AUGM universities to develop joint projects were also topics discussed in the meeting.

According to the professor, UFSC’s involvement in the event is “an opportunity to promote the internationalization of research and outreach in the area of human rights, as well as to build joint strategies with universities from participating countries to strengthen human rights practices and activities in universities”.

Cultural Activity closing the event

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

On 7 October, SINTER, represented by the director Dr. Fernanda Leal, participated in the round table discussion “South-South International Cooperation: Outreach, research and teaching in the Global South”. The event took place in the School of Education (CED) at UFSC and was attended by representatives from UFSC’s partner institutions in Colombia and East Timor, as well as by the Attaché of the Embassy of East Timor in Brazil, Mr. Marcelono Magno Ximenes, who reinforced the positive impact of international cooperation with Brazilian universities, especially UFSC, for higher education in Timor.

The Director of the School of Education, prof. Hamilton Wielewicki; the coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Linguistic Policies for Multilingualism, Prof. Gilvan Muller; CED graduate programs’ coordinators involved in the cooperation; as well as Timorese and Brazilian graduate students were also present at the event.

Professors Suzani Cassiani and Patrícia Giraldo, who organized the event, have been leading UFSC’s international cooperation with East Timor for more than fifteen years. The most recent achievement of this cooperation was the approval, by Capes, of an Interinstitutional Doctoral Program (Dinter) between UFSC and Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e. To learn more about the cooperation, access here.

Group who attended the meeting between University of Arizona (USA) and UFSC. Photo: Maria Fernanda Honório/SINTER

On Tuesday, 5 November, the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) welcomed the visit of Prof. Dr. Dean Alain-Philippe Durand, Dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, USA. The meeting, held by the Office of International Relations (SINTER), aimed at discussing the reestablishment of the bilateral cooperation agreement between the institutions which expired this year.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary for International Relations at UFSC, Prof. Dr. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho, and Prof. Dr. Ronaldo Lima, from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (DLLE/CCE), who is the coordinator of the agreement at UFSC. During the visit, they discussed possibilities for academic collaboration and exchange between students and faculty, strengthening UFSC´s international partnership and promoting new opportunities for research and educational development.

From left to right: Prof. Dr. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho; Prof. Dr. Dean Alain-Philippe Durand. Photo: Maria Fernanda Honório/SINTER

The reestablishment of the agreement is intended to expand exchange of knowledge and experiences between universities, contributing to the field of humanities and strengthening UFSC’s international relations.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.