Internationalization is in the agenda of the global scenario, considered as the central paradigm of higher education in Brazil. In this sense, ERIS/UNESPAR is committed to the implementation of internationalization policies and actions at the University focusing on the institutional development in its structural, political and knowledge circulation, as well as enjoying the benefits of international cooperation actions and mechanisms and their synergies in the academic, technological and innovation fields, in order to form upstanding citizens, with intercultural skills and global competences.  

Prior to the creation of UNESPAR, internationalization actions took place on some campuses, while they were still just Faculties, and based on actions organized by isolated, individualized practices of professors with their contacts at foreign universities. Between 2011 and 2014, with the implementation of the Science Without Borders Program (CsF) [1], the then FECILCAM – current campus of Campo Mourão -, and FAP – current campus of Curitiba II -, the first outgoing mobilities to universities in Europe and the United States were promoted. With the formalization and accreditation of UNESPAR in 2013, in September of that same year, an International Relations Consultancy was created to attend, initially, students in mobility situations through the CsF Program and then some teaching programs and specific demands from the Dean’s Office. Subsequently, in August 2016, the International Relations Office – ERI was implemented, and became effective in the university’s organizational chart as a supplementary body to the Dean’s Office and the appointment of a Director. In 2017, the team was expanded with the implementation of the organization chart, the appointment of those in charge of Programs and Projects as well as the ones responsible for Agreements and Mobility, in addition to receiving the support of the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Higher Education – SETI, which allowed the hiring of a technical fellow to assist with the administrative activities of the Office. In 2019, with the University’s own resources, the Office received an internship position that has since assisted in the communication and internal and external dissemination of UNESPAR’s internationalizantion initiatives and actions. 

[1] Science without Borders (CsF) is a Program that seeks to promote the consolidation, expansion and internationalization of science and technology, innovation and Brazilian competitiveness through exchange and international mobility. The initiative is the result of a joint effort of the Ministries of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the Ministry of Education (MEC), through their respective funding institutions – CNPq and CAPES and MEC’s Departments of Higher Education and of Technological Education (MEC, online).