UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DA INTEGRAçãO LATINO-AMERICANA

The Federal University of Latin American Integration (UNILA) is a unique project in the history of higher education in Latin America. Its vocation is to contribute to Latin American development and integration, with an emphasis on Mercosur, through humanistic, scientific and technological knowledge and solidary cooperation between universities, governmental and international organizations. It is an open university for Latin America and the Caribbean: students and professors are selected and recr... uited in the various Latin American and Caribbean countries, seeking a proportion of half of non-Brazilian students and the other half formed by Brazilians. It is a public university linked to the network of Brazilian federal universities. However, although it is located within a country, it has as its horizon the sharing of knowledge in all fields of knowledge and between the countries of the continent. The choice of the city of Foz do Iguaçu as the location for UNILA's installation is part of the context of the Trinational Region between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and will be an important intercultural and multiethnic laboratory. UNILA has the particularity of being a bilingual university, where Portuguese and Spanish are part of its daily life. The objective is to transform bilingualism into a key tool for the cultural and intellectual integration of the academic community. The University was thought of as an institution that could, within the scope of its mission, reflect on both regional and universal issues, aiming to contribute to solving the challenges of Latin American societies. To this end, it offers courses and conducts research in areas of mutual interest for Latin American countries, with an emphasis on natural resources, social and linguistic studies, international relations and areas considered strategic for development and regional integration. The project seeks to develop a university model for the 21st century, at a time when the knowledge society and the formation of regional blocs have become increasingly decisive factors for the insertion of nations in the global competitive scenario. This challenge implies breaking with traditional parameters and critically absorbing the positive experience of other Latin American universities, from an interdisciplinary and multicultural perspective. UNILA intends to be a university space open to all of Latin America and the Caribbean, signing academic cooperation and exchange agreements throughout the continent.More