Learn about Jossué Bonilla, Ecuadorean student, who joined the program's first class
A new semester has begun for the 25 international students enrolled in the Virtual Mobility Program of PUCRS. With an online event, the students enrolled in on-line courses, were welcomed by the team of the Office for International Cooperation to learn more about the university, the routine of studies, and interact with other classmates.
Students from Peru, Argentina, Germany and Bolivia have joined the courses on Portuguese as an Additional Language I and II. In this program, students from partner Higher Education Institutions can brush up their Portuguese and learn more about the culture of Brazil. Two other students are enrolled in courses on People Management, Marketing, Sustainability, Digital Business and Philosophy.
Photo: Matheus Gomes
The program is an opportunity for learning an additional language, coming into contact with new cultures and internationalizing the curriculum, without having to travel. Jossué E. Bonilla, a student from the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, in Ecuador, joined the course Portuguese as an Additional Language I, in the second semester of 2020. The Ecuadorean student enrolled again in the Virtual Mobility program for two other semesters, in the courses on People Management and Digital Business. Because of this experience, the student had the chance participate in the MERCOSUR Visitors Program, to work at the Institute of Human Rights Policies, a position that required proficiency in two languages of the trade bloc.
According to Jossué, who came to PUCRS for an in-person visit earlier this month, thanks to the things he learned in the Portuguese program, he was able to work internationally with topics such as migration, the LGBTQ+ population and childhood directly in Portuguese. On top of that, because he had the chance to interact with people from all over the world, he was better prepared to take part in the Change the World Model United Nations, in Dubai, UAE. In his understanding, his Digital Business classes gave him the chance to internationalize his career to join initiatives such as the International Action Group (group of young people from Europe, Africa and Latin America) or the Rede de Promotores dos ODS, in Latin America.
