Terezinha Domiciano Dantas Martins, Rector of Brazil’s Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), met last week with representatives of Zhejiang A&F University (ZAFU) and the Chinese Embassy in Brazil. The topics discussed included potential partnerships in research projects, student and faculty exchange programmes, and the establishment of a Confucius Institute at UFPB.

According to Ana Berenice Martorelli, President of the UFPB Agency for International Cooperation, who attended the meeting, one of the next steps will be to draft and sign a Co-operation Agreement between the two universities. A Chinese delegation will visit UFPB in October to advance the formalisation of the agreement. The university currently has agreements with six Chinese institutions.

Ana Berenice Martorelli noted that UFPB has been expanding its partnerships with Chinese universities in areas including language teaching, law and technology. However, she observed that the institution had not yet established partnerships in the fields of agriculture and veterinary medicine. The new co-operation offers an opportunity to extend the university’s internationalisation efforts to its campuses outside the state capital.

(Source: Federal University of Paraíba, 15 July)