Science without Borders (CsF) students will have to return to Brazil, because they did not get the minimum grade required in the English proficiency test (fluency) at the universities where they would study. According to the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes), a total of 110 students were excluded from the program. All undergraduate students, who had chosen Portugal for the exchange, and after the suspension of scholarships in the country, were able to select another destination.
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Also according to the autarchy, these students will no longer be able to participate in the program in the graduate-sandwich modality, from which they were excluded. The scholarships were distributed between Canada (80) and Australia (30).
At the time of suspension of Portuguese scholarships, 9,691 candidates were able to choose other destinations: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Ireland. The intention was to encourage the learning of other languages and avoid the ease of the Portuguese language.
As the students were not fluent in the languages, the government offered a six-month course. After this period, they would have to take a proficiency test and reach the grade required by the institutions where they would study, which varies. If they couldn't, they should return to Brazil. According to Capes, 3,445 fellows remain abroad to pursue academic activities.
In addition to the exam, students who were already abroad would have to present the necessary documents to the institutions to be accepted as students. Usually this happens while they are still in Brazil, but as they were not fluent, they would need to get it before trying to join the institutions. "These requirements are not homogeneous, and vary according to the area of the course, the student's educational background and language proficiency", informs Capes. Some of the 110 students had problems in other areas as well.
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Students return without academic activities, that is, without recognition of the exchange. On social networks, the subject generated controversy. Some criticize the high demand: "Our education model teaches the verb to be from sixth grade to the end of high school, and now the government demands fluency? We now know that the next ones to go to the CsF will be the people who would be able to go on their own," says a Facebook user.
Others believe that there was a lack of study by the participants: "These are the students who did not have fluency in the language and received an English course in loco, with total immersion in the culture of the language in which they are learning... The government, in this case, is not demanding fluency, but the minimum required use of the very expensive English course they received", says another user.
Mariana Tokarnia - Reporter from Agência Brasil
Edition: Stênio Ribeiro