An International Learning Community
US-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
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The original plans for simultaneous coursework by US and Brazil students in Summer, 2006 in Brazil were modified so that Cycle I students will come to the US on July 30, 2005: 1) CAPES student funding is available for 2005 that may otherwise be lost, 2) Semester schedules at UFBA and UNESP end in Mid-July, precluding a short course with US students in May-June, 2006, and 3) CAPES typically sends students for an entire semester, at $750/month for 4 months.
- Students will be chosen by an UFBA-UNESP selection committee based on proposed Project-Coursework plan, GPA, an interview, and TOEFL scores acceptable for admission to LSU-Southern-UMN. Brazilian student applications will be due in March, 2005 with notification of awards by May, 2005.
- Suggested topics and mentors for projects that fit project goals will be offered to student applicants, although independently developed study topics may be accepted. Specifically, initial diseases of high interest are: Leishmaniasis, Viral Encephalitides (West Nile Virus, EEE, WEE, VEE, SLE), Redwater (Cowdria ruminantium ), Foot and Mouth Disease, Anthrax).
- There will be a parity of the 6-8 mobility awards to Brazilian students; 3-4 awards will be to UFBA students in DVM, MD, SPH or advanced graduate-undergraduate programs (at least 1 each, 1 open) and 3-4 awards will be to UNESP students in DVM, MD or graduate-undergraduate programs (at least 1 each, 1 open).
- Students will be encouraged to work in pairs or groups on separate aspects of each project; they may later assist US students in further developing other aspects of topics in Brazil in the following summer.
- This application-review-award and teaching-study schedule will be followed for Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 awards in subsequent years.
- To supplement the $750/mo allowed by CAPES, student worker jobs (10hr/wk) will be sought, if possible.
- The two-week FIPSE course 'Health, Environment, Livestock and People' (See attached schedule for comment) will be offered at LSU-Baton Rouge from July 30-Aug 13, 2005. One of the two weeks will be spent at the LSUHSC in New Orleans. J Bender of UMN will teach one week at LSU-BR, similar in coverage to his UMN Summer Institute course 'Application of Infectious Disease Epidemiological Principles: Understanding the Emergence of Zoonotic Diseases'. One of the two weeks will include a 3-day GIS Short course and 2 days of 'General coverage' (eg. 'WHO's Great neglected diseases' by R Bergquist) to be taught at LSU-BR +/or LSUHSC-New Orleans. Student housing will be identified at each site.
- The original plan to have a 3-week introductory course was reduced to a 2-week course because: 1) it was possible to reduce time because 5 lecture hours of class content will be made available on the FIPSE web site for faculty at ALL partner universities to offer as an introduction/orientation for prospective students. There will be a Pre-test and a Final Exam to determine student mastery of course content. They can do this via distance learning, working with local faculty mentors/instructors for support; 2) the GIS short course was reduced to 3-days from 5-days; 3) Only 2 days of 'General' coverage will be offered (eg. 'WHO's Great Neglected Disease by R Bergquist). Students will thus begin the course in the US or Brazil with much of 1 week classwork already done, thus leaving one more week for student projects.
- The on-line courses will 'double' as a uniform, group taught 'recruitment course'…..students will take all or part to determine interest in the complete program. The on-line course will be a requirement for application and grades assigned will be used as a criteria for selection.
- In the Fall, 2005 semester, 6 Cr of coursework will be taken at one of the US partner institutions (eg. UMN or LSU School of Public Health; Southern, UMN or LSU Grad/Undergraduate courses). Formal course credits to be sought via respective curriculum committees of partner colleges and will be included as a part of respective University Exchange Agreements
- Opportunities will be provided for Brazilian students to meet and help recruit US student counterparts at each site via organized social events/tours and school seminars.
- Students will assemble as a group in Baton Rouge for 3 days in the week preceeding departure for Brazil to submit a written report and an oral powerpoint presentation to fellow students and faculty on project results. GIS projects, digital map materials and databases will be submitted for inclusion as resource data on specific diseases in the South America and/or North America Minimum Medical GIS Database. Time spent will be credited as part of the formal 3-week 'Health Environment, Livestock and People' course offering. Program evaluation by students will also be done.
