UFSC strengthens agenda with institutions from Japan and Singapore

16/12/2022 19:26

The Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina is studying partnerships in specialized areas with seven universities, three from Japan and four from Singapore. The networking began during an international mission that lasted 15 days and ended on 26 November.  The Prorector for Research and Innovation, Jacques Mick, was part of the group led by the Support Foundation for Research and Innovation of the State of Santa Catarina (Fapesc) and by the Santa Catarina Association of Educational Foundations (Acafe). The visit was sponsored by the Santa Catarina government, interested in expanding the mechanisms of cooperation between the state, universities, and the private sector to promote development.

According to the Prorector, both Japan and Singapore have similar priorities to those that mobilize much of the community of scientists at UFSC, with emphasis on issues such as understanding, mitigating, and coping with climate change; sustainability, including the development of new materials, renewable energy, circular economy, etc.; the promotion of health, including biomedicine and medicines; and also the reduction of exposure to disasters. “The countries have very unique political systems and very high HDI’s, so the issues related to the rise of authoritarianism, quality in education, and fighting hunger and poverty are no longer present,” he said.

Some of the approaches pointed out by Mick as possible partnership activities, strengthened by the embassies, are the Brazil-Japan and Brazil-Singapore academic collaboration programs for visiting professors exchange; dissemination of advanced research portfolios of UFSC and other universities from Santa Catarina in those countries and the dissemination of funding sources for international research collaboration available in Japan and Singapore. “In terms of bilateral cooperation, the mission had contact with research structures of six universities and one polytechnic institute. Three out of the three Japanese and four Singaporean institutions are among the best in the world,” he added.

The Prorector also pointed out other positive aspects of the international mission for UFSC. Based on the results, the Prorectorate for Research and Innovation (PROPESQ) intends to collaborate with Sinter in the preparation of a portfolio of advanced research at UFSC, in various areas of knowledge, to be published in English and other languages. Moreover, as the mission was made up of several state institutions, Mick also perceives a scenario of possible inter-institutional approach with the network of community universities in Santa Catarina.

Fapesc’s mission brought together the institutions of the federal system (UFSC, UFFS, IFSC, and IFC), the community universities of the Acafe system, a private non-profit institution (SATC) and Unisenai, of the Fiesc system. “The extended interaction of the managers over 16 days promoted dialogues towards an inter-institutional connection. The topic is of interest to UFSC”, reinforces the professor.

For Fábio Zabot Holthausen, Fapesc’s president, the results of the contacts established, the information exchanged and the knowledge acquired are already visible in the integration among the academic leaderships from Santa Catarina. “We were able to have a close look at something that until then was an obstacle to international partnerships and to study ways to enable new possibilities for knowledge exchange. We were received with enthusiasm and in many of the institutions we visited we have planted the seeds for the future. We have a lot of work ahead of us based on the contacts made in Asia. We are convinced that the future of these relations will be very prosperous,” he added.

 

Information: PROPESQ and FAPESC.

 

Translated by SINTER/UFSC.

Read the original article here.