The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, FIPSE, in the Department of Education, has awarded a $207 thousand dollars grant to West Valley Community College in Saratoga and partner San Jose State University. Through this grant, selected students will receive $3,500 stipends to study in Brazil. Successful applicants, who must speak Portuguese, will spend one semester abroad starting next year. Scholarship winners will be immersed in the Brazilian culture, living in a local home, attending classes in Portuguese. Qualified candidates will also have an opportunity to intern at high tech companies in a region known as Brazil's Silicon Valley.

Students will register and pay tuition at West Valley, just $20.00 a unit, and travel to one of three universities, Universidade Federal de Itajuba and INATEL in Minas Gerais or FUCAPI in Manaus, Amazonas to study international business, material science, engineering and the Portuguese language.

West Valley College is offering a special, intense Brazilian Portuguese class this summer, just in time for students who want to apply for the overseas scholarship.

"It's important for American students to be familiar with Brazil, because it's an emerging market," says Margarise Correa, Program Manager of the Silicon Valley Center for International Trade Development. "Brazil has the largest economy in South America and the U.S. is the major trading partner. Many experts say Brazil, along with India, China and Russia, will be among tomorrow's superpowers."

West Valley and San Jose State University will also host Brazilian students. The universities located in the states of Minas Gerais and Amazonas are currently recruiting the first group who will arrive in California in August to attend classes during the Fall semester. The Brazilian students will be sponsored by CAPES in the Brazil's Ministry of Education.

For more information, contact:

Margarise Correa

International Program Manager