Center will open its doors in Apr 10, on PUCRS Main Campus
Photo: Bruno Todeschini – Ascom/PUCRS
The first Center for German and European Studies in Latin America and in the Southern Hemisphere (CDEA), a partnership between UFRGS and PUCRS, will be opening its doors on Apr 10. The ceremony will start at 5:30 pm, at the theather of Building 40 on PUCRS Main Campus (Avenida Ipiranga, 6681). Several authorities have been invited, such as Br. Evilázio Teixeira, PUCRS President; Rui Vicente Oppermann, UFRGS President; Georg Witschel, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany; Stefan Traumann, Consul General of Germany in Porto Alegre; and Joybrato Mukherjee, Vice President of the German Academic Exchange Service (Daad). On the same day, in the morning, there will be an Academic Congress in celebration of the opening, in room 2, of UFRGS’ Commencement Hall.
Photo: Gabriel Bessa – AAII/PUCRS
Ambassador Dieter Lamlé, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Stefan Traumann, Consul General of Germany in Porto Alegre, came to PUCRS on March 27, welcomed by the President of PUCRS, Evilázio Teixeira, the President of UFRGS Rui Vicente Oppermann, the Vice President of PUCRS, Jaderson Costa da Costa and the Directors of CDEA, Claudia Lima Marques and Draiton Gonzaga de Souza.
The Center will be headed by the Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Law of UFRGS, Claudia Lima Marques, and Draiton Gonzaga de Souza, PUCRS’ Associate Dean of the School of Humanities, will serve as its Vice President. It will be located on the 6th floor of Building 5, at PUCRS. Relying on funds from the Ministry of External Relations of Germany, CDEA will increase the chances for the creation of a new specialization program at PUCRS and a new line of research in “European and German Law”, in cooperation with the Research Line in Legal Integration of UFRGS. The program will initially receive funds for a period of 5 years, but this period may be extended. Another benefit brought by the institute, will be on the promotion of the German language, which will be strongly encouraged both at PUCRS’ Language Center (Lexis) and at the Modern Languages Department of UFRGS. CDEA might bring with it an increase in the number of exchange scholarships and grants for students and faculty, as it may also serve as a supporting tool for research into Germany-related topics in both the European and global context.
Cláudia Marques, the Center’s director, states that the project is meant to bring benefit to students, professors as well as national and international partners: “No doubt, our institutions and their 20 graduate programs in the area of Humanities will receive international recognition for their competence, excellence and experience”, states she. Souza claims that “we’ll become a an interinstitutional, interdisciplinary and international center of excellence, as we’ll bring together researchers from several areas to develop their projects”. The center’s actions are geared towards globalization, sustainable development and cultural diversity.
