Abstract

WIT, Hans De; LEAL, Fernanda  and  UNANGST, Lisa. INTERNATIONALIZATION AIMED AT GLOBAL SOCIAL JUSTICE: BRAZILIAN UNIVERSITY INITIATIVES TO INTEGRATE REFUGEES AND DISPLACED POPULATIONS. ETD - Educ. Temat. Digit. [online]. 2020, vol.22, n.3, pp.567-590.  Epub June 27, 2021. ISSN 1676-2592.  https://doi.org/10.20396/etd.v22i3.8659331.

The increased immersion of global higher education in a competitive, economy-oriented paradigm calls for perspectives on international interaction that are explicitly aimed at shaping cooperative, sustainable, and alternative futures. In Brazil, higher education internationalization efforts driven by the Brazilian government have historically been attached to the State’s development interests. As these efforts have consolidated in a hegemonic way, initiatives pursued by individual higher education institutions themselves gain relevance in that context. In this article, we explore the projects developed by two Brazilian federal universities - the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and the Federal University of Parana (UFPR) - seeking to integrate refugees and displaced populations into higher education and the Brazilian society more generally. Our approach combines bibliographic and document analysis with interviews of key actors. Based on the results, we emphasize: 1. The role of Brazilian higher education institutions’ autonomy in order to develop internationalization strategies that are both contextually relevant and aimed at promoting global social justice; 2. The importance of linking existing university outreach/extension activities aimed at marginalized groups to institutional policy for internationalization, so that internationalization efforts do not end up suppressing the more direct social role of those institutions.

Keywords : Higher Education; Internationalization; Social justice; Displaced populations.

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