Eight Engineering students to spend one year in Europe on Programa Brafitec
Photo: Mariana Haupenthal
Eight Engineering majors from the School of Technology, are getting ready to go to four institutions in France where they will have the chance to take regular courses as well as join simultaneous research projects. They have been selected for the Programa Brafitec, a bilateral academic mobility action in the areas of technology between Brazil and France. The project is endorsed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Higher Education) – CAPES, and by the Conférence des Directeurs des Ecoles Françaises d’Ingénieurs (CDEFI).
The main goal is to bring theory and practice together. Because of that, students are expected to stay there for two semesters and seem excited about the opportunity. Samuel Badin, who will be going to École Nationale D’Ingénieurs de Brest (ENIB) will be joining the project Novo Engenheiro – Novo Futuro (New Engineer – New Future), hopes to meet people from different cultures and brush up his French. This experience will also serve for this Control and Automation Engineering major to boost his career.
On the other hand, Civil Engineering majors Augusto Dias Gonçalves and Vanessa Dotti will be going to École Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Saint-Étienne (ENISE). “The time I will be spending in France will give me a unique opportunity to study, do research and work abroad”, comments Gonçalves, who plans to stay in France for two years to earn a double-major.
Other Civil Engineering majors Arthur Bortolotto Rizzo, Matheus Chiaradia Wenzel and Priscila Zampieri Trentin, are about to go to Hautes Études d’Ingénieur (HEI), a private Engineering school, affiliated to Université Catholique de Lille. They will be joining the project Smart Cities: A Engenharia e as Cidades inteligentes para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável e a Urbanização do Futuro (Smart Cities: Engineering and Smart Cities for Sustainable Development and Urbanization of the Future) and hope to explore this area which is still unexplored in Brazil. “This experience will bring a tremendous personal growth and will foster an exchange of cultures and the possibility to come in contact with professionals from several parts of the world”, says Priscila.
The participants of FORCINT: Projeto de Formação para a Concepção de Sistemas Inteligentes (Training Project for the Conception of Smart Systems), Computer Engineering majors Gelmar Luiz da Costa and Lucas Tauber Zini, will be attending Université de Montpellier. Among other things, they hope to do some networking with professionals in the area they want to work. Zini adds that the French program might help him make a decision about which field he will specialize in.
For School of Technology professor Dr Eduardo Giugliani this is a complete training opportunity, providing a global and comprehensive view, that offers several job market possibilities. “Being with students since the very beginning of the selection process, during the exchange and especially after their return, shows how significant this experience is for their professional and personal experience”, adds he.
PUCRS has sent more than 130 students in every edition of the program as it is one of the pioneering Universities in Brazil. On top of that, as many as 25 French students have come to PUCRS on the Programa Brafitec.
