Education Without Borders: Univille Welcomes Mexican Public Institution and Ambassador

Technical Mission from the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla Continues in Joinville Through Ma

The relationship between Brazil and Mexico has been further strengthened in the field of education through the visit of a technical mission from the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla (UIEP) to Univille this week.

With 20 years of experience, UIEP is a public higher education institution that primarily serves Indigenous and rural communities. The agenda also included the presence of Mexico’s Ambassador to Brazil, Carlos García de Alba.

The delegation from the Mexican university will remain in the city until May 7, with an extensive program of activities and meetings.

On Wednesday, the 29th, two professors and 12 students from UIEP were welcomed by Rector Alexandre Cidral and Vice-Rector Therezinha Novais, along with other faculty members and members of the academic community. The delegation also visited the Graduate Program in Education and later took part in a discussion on “University, Community Engagement, Interculturality, and Sustainability”, held in the library auditorium.

Over the following days, the Mexican university delegation will engage with several programs and academic areas at Univille. The goal is to understand and identify opportunities through interculturality for higher education institutions to strengthen community engagement and sustainability.

In addition to activities on campus, faculty members and students from the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla will take part in technical visits to Indigenous, Quilombola, and rural communities in Joinville and the surrounding region, among other scheduled activities.

“It is an opportunity for us to demonstrate how we approach interculturality, how it is implemented in Indigenous communities in Mexico, and how we build these connections. Our intention is to continue promoting international mobility and maintain this exchange between our territories, developing collaborative strategies,” said Raúl Gómez Vázquez, professor and researcher at UIEP.

For Rosália Guzman Juarez, a student of Alternative Tourism, the expectation is that she and her colleagues will have the opportunity to learn about Univille’s educational model, how its students and professors interact, and how sustainability initiatives are carried out both within and beyond the university.

“As a community university, Univille has among its core missions engagement with the territory and local communities through teaching, research, and outreach activities. Through this exchange with professors and students from the University of Puebla, we will be able to understand the opportunities and challenges of intercultural education as a sustainable strategy for strengthening the university’s engagement with the community,” explained Alexandre Cidral, Rector of the University of the Region of Joinville.

Since 2011, Univille has maintained a cooperation agreement with the Metropolitan University of Mexico, focused on academic exchange and research.

Meeting with the Mexican Ambassador:During his visit to Univille on Thursday, April 30, Mexican Ambassador Carlos García de Alba met with students and faculty members from the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla (UIEP). Ambassador Alba highlighted the importance of educational cooperation between the two Latin American countries and reaffirmed his interest in expanding academic partnerships, student mobility, and joint projects.

Welcoming the delegation, Vice-Rector Therezinha Novais congratulated UIEP for its work in promoting interculturality within its educational approach since 2006.

“We have much to learn from you, as our region shares many Indigenous and traditional communities. We need to further develop our work in this area, especially as Brazil is set to establish its first federal university dedicated to Indigenous peoples,” she emphasized.

The meeting was also attended by Lourdes Martini, Deputy Secretary for National Coordination; William Escher, Secretary for Economic Development and Innovation of Joinville; Walter Ros, Honorary Consul of Mexico in Curitiba; Prof. Dr. Paulo Henrique Condeixa de França, Vice-Rector for Research, Graduate Studies and Innovation; UIEP professors Raúl Gómez Vázquez and Betsy Jazmin Hernandez Garcia; and other Univille faculty members.

The technical mission is one of the outcomes of the cooperation agreement signed in 2025 between the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla (UIEP) and Univille. The initiative was organized by the Graduate Program in Cultural Heritage and Society, with support from the Graduate Programs in Communication, Education, Design, and Production Systems.

The mission also received support from projects and programs including the Observatory for Sustainability (CNPq) and PROEXT-PG (CAPES). The initiative involved Univille’s Vice-Rectorates for Research, Graduate Studies and Innovation; Teaching; Extension and Community Affairs, as well as the Stricto Sensu Graduate Studies Office.

The initiative also brought together the Law, History, Visual Arts, Advertising and Publicity, International Relations, Film and Audiovisual Studies, Gastronomy, and Psychology programs, along with the Human Rights Education Committee (CEDH), the UNESCO Chair on Education for Citizenship and Human Rights, and the International Affairs Office.

Univille Presents Community Initiatives During Technical Visits Knowledge exchange and appreciation of tangible and intangible heritage. As part of the technical visit program, UIEP faculty members and students learned about teaching, research, and university outreach activities developed by Univille in traditional communities across the region.

The visits took place on Monday (May 4) at the Tekoa Tarumã Community, located in Araquari, and at the Caminho Curto Community, in the rural area of Joinville.