Abstract
In the last fifteen years, the number of Brazilian students in Portugal has shown an increase of more than 600%. This trend was firstly driven by Portuguese economic recovery, which included investments in university education and incentives for receiving foreign students, through the international student statute, established in 2014. In the same year, Portugal started to accept the Brazilian national exams (ENEM) for the university admission, increasing the educational migratory flux once a directly access was stablished. Moreover, other secondary reasons led to this increase, such as the opportunity to study and live in a safer country and the possibility of obtaining a prestigious foreign degree. Currently, Brazilian students represent more than 33% of the foreign students in Portugal. However, the Brazilian students are highly concentrated in the top 3 Portuguese universities, Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto. In the specific case of the University of Porto, 73% of the foreign students are of Brazilian origin, with the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) representing the largest contingent. This sharp growth in a specific group of foreign students on the engineering courses has created several important educational challenges, as the Brazilian students often exhibit higher failure rates in exams and curricular units as well as increased dropout rates when compared with Portuguese students. This is due to several factors, such as differences on the educational methodology, the quality of the high-school education, cultural differences, difficulty of adaptation and other socioeconomics aspects. The present work evaluates the causes behind the limited academic success of Brazilian students and introduces the measures and methodologies applied to the Brazilian students on the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, and on the Integrated Master’s in Mechanical Engineering (MIEM) in particular, in the pursuit of maintaining educational equality and ensuring success for all enrolled students, independently of their origin.
Highlights
In the last years, the number of Brazilian students in Portuguese universities has shown a significant growth, comprising the largest foreign student community in Portugal (Iorio and Fonseca 2018)
The number of Brazilian students in Portugal has increased by 540% between 2005 and 2015, followed by a growth of 86% in the last 4 years, resulting in a total of 13925 Brazilian students enrolled in Portuguese higher learning institutions in the 2018/2019 academic year
The increased presence of Brazilian students in UPorto and FEUP is seen as a strategic step toward a greater degree of internationalization, in an effort to establish a truly world class academic institution that can attract the best students in the world
Summary
The number of Brazilian students in Portuguese universities has shown a significant growth, comprising the largest foreign student community in Portugal (Iorio and Fonseca 2018). The number of Brazilian students in Portugal has increased by 540% between 2005 and 2015, followed by a growth of 86% in the last 4 years, resulting in a total of 13925 Brazilian students enrolled in Portuguese higher learning institutions in the 2018/2019 academic year. Due to diverse political and social reasons, the growth of the Brazilian economy slowed, followed by an economic recession which caused a reduction of investments in research and education This did not stop the flow of students to foreign learning institutions. Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world (Institute for Economics and Peace 2016) and several Brazilian students moved to Portugal to start their university studies and subsequent professional life in a more peaceful country Another reason for the increase in the migratory flux of Brazilian students is related to population aging. This study shows that it is critical for the institutions must closely monitor the academic and social issues faced by these students and adapt some of its procedures, to ensure knowledge can be successfully transferred within an environment that strives to achieve maximum integration of the students
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