Complete notice published at the Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination (Capes)’s website follows below.

Also, in an effort to support the internationalisation of the Higher Education in Brazil and foster mobility aiming at international students coming to Brazil, Capes has recently launched the CATALOG OF POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMES OF INTERNATIONAL QUALITY OFFERED BY BRAZILIAN UNIVERSITIES with details of institutions, courses and the regions where they are based.

Source (in Portuguese): CAPES’ website .

OFFICIAL NOTICE
Science Without Borders will have new focus
The Brazilian Ministry of Education has issued an official notice about the Science Without Borders programme which is aimed at international exchange of students, teachers and researchers:
- The concession of scholarships was finalised in 2014, as originally planned. This occurred during President Dilma Roussef’s previou term, when the last calls were launched, whose students will conclude their activities until the beginning of 2017.
- The current management has decided that the first phase of the programme has been completed and no further resources will be allocated for its continuation. The first and immediate action was to ensure financial resources are secured to honor the commitments made to the students already abroad as to avoid interrupting the studies. Also, the Ministry of Education increased in 20.9% the budget of the Science without Borders, as additional credit, from R$ 1.4 billion to R $ 1.8 billion, which ensures the continuity of the scholarships for those already abroad.
- A technical group work was selected to run deep analysis of the programme, focusing mainly on the participation of the Ministry of Education in running the scheme - it is important to remember that the SwB was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications. Preliminary analysis has identified a need to improve the programme, especially on the undergraduate realm. Participating institutions were not requested to play an active role in the academic mobility process; example of this is the issue Brazilian students faced with the acceptance of equivalence of subjects taken abroad. Another point considered was the high cost for the “graduação sanduíche” (sandwich graduation), of about R$ 3.248 billion for about 35,000 scholarships of the Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination (Capes) in 2015 – same amount necessary to provide meals for 39 million primary school students.
- By decision of the Minister of Education, the programme will resume with new approach. Capes (Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination ) plans on retaking the Science without Borders focused on language teaching in-country and abroad, structured to include disadvantaged young secondary students enrolled in public schools. There will be an emphasis on post-graduate scholarships for mobility of students, teachers and researchers, with more active participation of Brazilian higher education institutions in the process of internationalisation.
- This proposal of shifting the focus of the programme is solely related to the undergraduate exchange. The post-graduate scholarships (doctoral and post-doctoral, attraction of young scientists) remain and, within the available budget, may yet be expanded.
- The current administration has already released funds amounting to more than R$ 1 billion for payment of scholarships and maintenance of students abroad.
- The government reiterates the importance of this initiative and sees as necessary the redesign of the programme as a process to contribute to the internationalisation of the higher education and science, technology and innovation in Brazil.