CICan’s on-going cooperation projects with SETEC, Brazil’s secretariat of professional and technological education under the Ministry of Education, strengthen technical education and promotes research cooperation between Brazilian and Canadian institutions.
Since 2001, Canadian colleges and institutes have been building long-lasting relationships with their counterparts in Brazil. These collaborations have supported quality professional and technical education, facilitated the exchange of teachers, professors, students, and researchers; and promoted research in areas that are mutually beneficial and strategic for both countries.
The most recent 5-year cooperation agreement with SETEC was signed in April 2023 to promote teacher and student mobility and work together to expand the Thousand Women Program (Mulheres Mil) in Africa and Latin America.
For many years, we have been collaborating with SETEC to maximize the strengths of Canadian colleges and institutes and help Brazilian institutions develop approaches to training that are more accessible for vulnerable learners and better support their integration in the labour market.
Brazil-Canada Technological and Professional Fellowship Exchange Program
From February to May 2014, a group of 43 Brazilian fellows, including teachers and senior departmental managers, participated in a pilot program to learn about the Canadian education system and applied research in a college or institute setting. During the exchange, participants observed the range of teaching methodologies and technologies and learned about the development of linkages with local business for applied research purposes.
The exchange program was funded through a collective in-kind contribution of CICan and 19 Canadian colleges and institutes further to the signature of a cooperation agreement with SETEC and the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES).
Building on the Mulheres Mil program
Mulheres Mil (One Thousand Women) is an approach to social and economic inclusion of vulnerable and unskilled women through improved access to education. In collaboration with SETEC, we successfully implemented the program in Brazil from 2007-2011. Nearly 1,200 women benefited from the program.