U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings during a joint press availability with Minister of Education Fernando Haddad at the Ministry of Education in Brasília. (Photo: U.S. Embassy)

Brasília, August 24, 2007 - U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced on August 23 the continuation and expansion of last year’s pilot program which offers students of Brazil’s technical and professional schools the opportunity to study at U.S. community colleges.  The community college program was developed by Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes and is fully funded by the U.S. Department of State.  It is administered in Brazil by the binational Fulbright Commission. 

The program will be quadrupled for 2008, allowing fifty (50) deserving Brazilian students to participate in this innovative program.  Students are recruited from federal schools (CEFETs), state schools, the “S” system, which includes SENAI, SESI, CNI and IEL, and private institutions.  The program offers the student a unique opportunity in a U.S. community college to pursue additional and complementary coursework, enhance English language ability, and have the overall broadening experience of studying overseas. 

Minister of Education Fernando Haddad shows Esplanada dos Ministérios to the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. (Photo: U.S. Embassy)

The announcement came during a joint press availability with Minister of Education Fernando Haddad at the Ministry of Education  following  a meeting between Minister Haddad and a delegation of American university presidents, headed by Secretary Spellings and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Farrell. 

Meeting in Sao Paulo and Brasilia with students and leaders in higher education, government, and business, the U.S. delegation visited Brazil to promote the quality, dynamism, and diversity of U.S. higher education, as well as the desire to expand educational partnerships in the hemisphere. The delegation emphasized the message that the U.S. welcomes and values international students in the United States, and highlighted the importance of international education to strengthening our ties and preparing globally competitive American students.

Traveling to both Brazil and Chile, the delegation included the presidents of the University of Maryland-University College, Iowa State University, Stanford University, the University of Nebraska, Miami Dade College, Washington University in St. Louis and the chancellors of the University of California-Santa Barbara and Louisiana State University.

Secretary Spellings Delivers Remarks at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo