Abstract:

The cooperation agreements signed in recent years within the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (or CPLP) have favoured intensifying and diversifying migratory flows for education in countries within the community. On a structural level, Brazil and Portugal’s strategic position and the conditions established for higher education provision make these countries destinations for flows from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe. Although the institutional framework for cooperation facilitates these movements, mobility tends to be challenged by the existence of disparate and sometimes highly unequal factors, impacting the reception and integration of international students, who often struggle more in their studies than what is expected in the academic contexts of Brazil and Portugal. The main difficulties may include formal literacy in Portuguese and numeracy, with some variation between countries, due to a lack of basic understanding of statistics, and infrequent exposure to computers and other technologies. Added to all these challenges are the cultural and socio-economic hurdles of adapting to and integrating into a new society. The empirical evidence of these discrepancies and the urgent need to mitigate their effects on dropout rates and academic failure mean that higher education institutions must define specific measures for international students. This study aims to provide a comprehensive diagnosis based on evidence gathered from the efforts of two public universities in Brazil and Portugal to improve international student support and integration. Furthermore, the social trajectories of these students will be analyzed upon their reintegration into the societies of their countries of origin and, more specifically, of their home universities. Ultimately, this study seeks to provide a general picture of international students’ progress and to contrast this with concrete action plans that not only take their specific needs into account but also promote inclusion, contributing to a more diverse and enriching educational environment. The results of this study will help to identify concrete measures for affirmative action to promote the integration and academic success of international students.

Keywords:

Higher education, Foreign Students, Affirmative action, Social inclusion.