Universities of São Paulo and Groningen strengthen partnership

The Universities of São Paulo (USP) and Groningen (UG) signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen and expand the already long-standing and fruitful collaboration. This happened during the recent visit of a broad delegation from UG to USP led by Rector Prof. Jacquelien Scherpen.

Central to the joint ambitions of USP and UG are high-quality international research, stimulation of cross-disciplinary approaches, and aligning educational programs to societal needs as well as the labor market. More concretely, both universities will focus on expansion of the double degree PhD programme, exploration of collaborative Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes, innovation of doctoral training programmes, and exchanges of staff and students.

“The internationalization of the University is very important, both in terms of teaching and research. Currently, our strategy is to prioritize relationships with partner universities, strengthening the collaboration that already exists. The University of Groningen is certainly one of our main partners”, stated rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior.

The rector of the University of Groningen, Jacquelien Scherpen, highlighted that “over the past years, USP and UG have built a strong portfolio of joint activities, and this gives confidence to invest further in the partnership. The visit to USP has been very interesting and productive, with many opportunities to expand the existing collaboration between the two universities, which have many points in common”.

During the meeting, the possibility of establishing offices in each other’s universities was discussed, as this would help to facilitate the realisation of the joint ambitions. In addition to signing the cooperation agreement, the Groningen delegation also met with other university leaders and held information sessions with USP researchers and students.