As the 2013-2014 academic year began, Jackson State University in Mississippi and Southern University at Baton Rouge in Louisiana were welcoming to their campuses dozens of students from Brazil for intensive courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as in English language skills. At both schools, the Brazilian students’ presence culminated months of planning as part of diversity initiatives put forth by the institutions. It was also a part of Brazil’s Scientific Mobility Program sponsored by the Brazilian government.
The scientific mobility program is part of the Brazilian government’s larger effort to grant 100,000 scholarships for the best students from Brazil to study abroad. The program contains an HBCU Initiative, which provides scholarships to some of its undergraduate students for study at 30 Black colleges and universities in the United States. Scholarships are given primarily to students in the STEM fields, and students participating in the program are required to return to Brazil to complete their degrees. HBCUs lobbied for inclusion in the program, which originally involved traditionally White institutions.
Jackson State and Southern University are among a growing number of HBCUs that have established agreements to educate students from Latin America for part of their matriculation. Administrators at both schools say they are benefiting financially and culturally. Dr. Barbara Carpenter, dean of international education and director of continuing education at SUBR, arranges MOUs with colleges in Latin American countries. She says she is looking forward to intensifying the recruitment of Hispanics both internationally and domestically.
For U.S. universities, including a number of HBCUs, Brazil’s Scientific Mobility Program and others like it that send international students to the United States are adding diversity to campuses and boosting enrollment at a time when the institutions are in need of both. Diversity officers say they have ramped up recruitment efforts in recent years. While some schools are focusing on international recruitment, others have found fertile ground domestically.
Domestic success
