National interests and the impact of student mobility: the case of Canada and Brazil

W E (Ted) Hewitt

doi:10.1590/0034-7329202000108

Abstract

Abstract While there is a growing literature on the trend towards international student mobility, few if any studies have focused on the relative impact of student exchange for promoting national interests and relationship building between specific countries. This study seeks to address this gap through an in-depth analysis of Brazil’s Science Without Borders programme and its implications for the country’s relationship with Canada. The study reveals that student mobility between the two countries effected by this programme provide significant advantage to both countries, not least of which will likely have positive implications for Canadian-Brazilian interaction.

Highlights

The number of students participating globally in study abroad and student exchange activities has exploded in recent decades, from approximately 100,000 in the 1950s, to well over three million presently (Shields 2013, 610)
The data presented in this study provide for the first time a comprehensive review of the scope and extent of Brazil’s Science without Borders (SwB) program in Canada
The data reveal a level of focused educational interchange that is without parallel within the context of Canada’s history of engagement with Brazil

Summary

Introduction

The number of students participating globally in study abroad and student exchange activities has exploded in recent decades, from approximately 100,000 in the 1950s, to well over three million presently (Shields 2013, 610). Fewer studies have examined international student mobility as a variable producing specific outcomes of value for “sending” and “receiving” nations, whether in financial terms, acquisition of expertise, or the promotion of less tangible benefits linked to “soft power” and positioning for advantage on the world stage (see, for example, Nye 1990) In examining such potential impacts of student mobility, Canada and Brazil provide an important case in point. Both countries have enjoyed a modest rapprochement in recent years, resulting in the development of government efforts on a variety of fronts to further enhance the relationship Some of this effort has focused on relationship building through collaboration in science, technology and innovation, as signaled by the signing of the Canada-Brazil Agreement for Cooperation in Science and Technology in 2011, and the subsequent establishment of a Canada-Brazil Joint Committee to carry out its terms (“Canada-Brazil relations.” 2017). To further examine this question, the study pursues two objectives: 1) to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive quantitative analysis of the SwB’s program dimensions in Canada; and 2) to offer a preliminary assessment of the direct impacts of the program in both Canadian and Brazilian contexts, and with respect to their broader bilateral relations

Background

Findings

Conclusion