The University of Manouba, in Tunisia, is interested in projects for special education developed by the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
The dean of the Brazilian institution, Arquimédes Diógenes Ciloni, is travelling to Tunis in the beginning of September to discuss an exchange in the field with representatives of the Tunisian university.
The UFU has researches and projects directed at the inclusion of students with special needs in elementary and high school and university.
According to the advisor in International Relations at the UFU, Rossana Valéria de Souza e Silva, the University of Manouba is interested in holding a symposium similar to the one held by the Brazilian school last year.
The UFU promoted, in December, the congress "Experiences in Inclusive Education" with the participation of about 700 specialists in Brazil and Europe. The Tunisians plan on holding an international meeting in the same way next year.
The exchange of information on the symposium is already one of the first actions in the cooperation agreement that the University of Manouba is going to sign with the UFU.
Rossana was in Tunisia between the 28th of June and 5th of July and signed partnerships with four Tunisian universities. The cooperation agreements should be signed in the beginning of August.
As well as the University of Manouba, the UFU will also sign for partnerships with the Tunis El Manar University, the University 7th of November of Carthage and the University of Tunis.
The agreements foresee that the universities develop cooperation in fields of mutual interest. According to Rossana, there will be exchange programs for students and researchers, joint events, shared research and publications.
According to the international advisor, as soon as the agreements are signed, enrollment for the exchange programs will be signed, to which students of any field may apply. Normally between five and six students take the exchange program every year.
Morocco
The Federal University of Uberlândia also signed, in May, an agreement with the Errachidia School of Sciences of the Moulay Ismail University, in Morocco, in the field of Exact Sciences. As part of the cooperation there already is a physics professor at UFU doing studies in collaboration with the Moroccans.
The Brazilian university is also going to host, during the second semester this year, a physics professor from Morocco. "We should expand cooperation also to other areas," says Rossana.
According to the International Relations advisor, the UFU has tradition in making agreements with French speaking universities, especially from France, and is interested in expanding them to countries in other regions.
The university also wishes to strengthen the agreements with African countries. Tunisia and Morocco are in Africa and French is their second language spoken. "We are also interested in receiving students of different nationalities," she says.
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