Service will promote academic opportunities in America
On Nov 7, PUCRS officially opened its doors to an EducationUSA advising center. It is affiliated to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs – ECA, of the US Department of State, with more than 425 centers in 175 countries. The office will be located at the Office for International Cooperation (Building 1, Office 110).
PUCRS is the first university in Rio Grande do Sul to host such a center. It will be open to the entire community on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 5:30 PM to 8:50 PM, and Saturdays, from 8 AM to 12:00 PM. For further information and advising activities, please send an email to [email protected] or phone (51) 3320-3660, extension 6204.
The network promotes U.S. higher education to students around the world by offering accurate, comprehensive, and current information about opportunities to study at accredited postsecondary institutions in the United States. EducationUSA also provides services to the U.S. higher education community to help institutional leaders meet their recruitment and campus internationalization goals.
The office will be very good for the community of Rio Grande do Sul. The EducationUSA office will provide information at no charge about studies in the USA, scholarships, grants, specific programs, pre-departure orientations for selected candidates as well as translations of academic documents approved by the US Department of State.
The EducationUSA advising centers are the official source of information about higher education in the USA. Educational advisers provide advising activities to students in view of the five steps to US study:
The office will also be a plus for the internationalization of research and inter-institutional cooperation. EducationUSA will act as a mediator for US faulty and researchers interested in coming to Rio Grande do Sul to work on research, teach in local universities and trigger the academic mobility of Americans in the state.
Here are some the activities that the office will offer: online and on-site advising for students interested in pursuing academic life in the USA and for American students interested in coming to Brazil for academic purposes; events to attract the local community to PUCRS to promote relevant programs; participation in exchange and mobility fairs and networking activities between all the other centers in the country.
The EducationUSA office at PUCRS is a direct response to the efforts of internationalization that institution has endeavored, which has been gaining momentum over the last couple of years. The Dean of International Cooperation, Dr Heloísa Delgado, claims that an office that promotes US teaching and research is “extremely relevant”, as it is a source of funding and academic opportunities for students in our community. “We can also take advantage of taking part in a network of national and American universities, which could result in new and important partnerships”, says she.
The Consul General of the USA in Porto Alegre, Julia Harlan, sees this partnership with PUCRS as essential. “We’re very excited with the opening of the EducationUSA office at PUCRS. We know that many students dream of going to the USA to study and we want to help them by sharing information and guiding them all the way through. The credibility and relevance of a university such as PUCRS will make us reach out to these students who seek an international experience in some of the best universities on the planet”, says she.
