Source: World Humanities Report
The article The Languages Without Borders Network in Brazil has been published in the World Humanities Report and is now available on the Andifes-IsF Network website. Written by Denise Abreu-e-Lima (Federal University of São Carlos) and Waldenor B. Moraes Filho (Federal University of Uberlândia), with contributions from the Andifes-IsF Network, the article offers an in-depth analysis of the program’s evolution, its connections to the former Science Without Borders initiative, its impact on Brazilian higher education, the network’s structure and management, and its transition from federal government administration to Andifes—the National Association of Directors/Presidents of Federal Higher Education Institutions. The publication is available in seven languages: German, Spanish, French, English, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese.
The World Humanities Report is a collaborative effort by the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) and the International Council for Philosophy and the Human Sciences (CIPSH).
The Languages Without Borders Network in Brazil
As the article explains, the Languages Without Borders Network emerged in Brazil as a political and regulatory strategy aligned with the internationalization efforts at universities in the Southern Hemisphere. One of the key initiatives in this context was the Science Without Borders (CsF) program, supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil. The program was criticized for prioritizing technology and innovation fields – such as Exact Sciences, Technology, and Medicine – while excluding the humanities and social sciences. The article highlights that “the program intended to internationalize Brazilian research, but it is impossible to address internationalization without considering language as the basis for communication among people and the central role of language education” (p. 4). In response to the academic community’s language proficiency needs for CsF scholarships, the Languages Without Borders (IsF) program was introduced as an alternative to supplement the teaching of foreign languages in Brazil.
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