Hawassa University participated in the 1st Brazil-Africa Rectors' Forum held at the Brazil International Convention Center (CICB) in Brasília, where the Ministry of Education of Brazil officially launched a $47.4 million postgraduate scholarship program for African students under the "Capes Move Africa Program".
The "Capes Move Africa Program" is said to create scholarship opportunities for 2,600 African master’s and doctoral students.
The forum was officiated by the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who declared that the initiative aims to further strengthen academic relations between Brazil and the African continent. According to the President’s statement, the event is an opportunity to strengthen and expand university cooperation between Brazil and Africa, as well as to recognize the continent’s central role in the world.
Among the 64 African rectors drawn from more than 30 countries, Hawassa University was represented at the forum by the Head of the President’s Office, Mr. Ayele Adato, who also presented a paper introducing the university.
The collaboration focuses on four strategic areas: agriculture, health, technology, and artificial intelligence. These partnerships, under the Capes Move Africa program, aim to facilitate joint research, the exchange of faculty and students, curriculum development, and mobility of postgraduate students.
The forum, which lasted until May 27, included remarks from Brazil’s Ministers of Education, Foreign Affairs, and Racial Equality, as well as the Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities, Olusola Bamidele Oyewole.
