Télécom Paris strengthens its cooperation with Brazilian universities

08 April 2024

Télécom Paris, France’s leading graduate school in digital technology, is expanding its cooperation with Brazilian universities through two new BRAFITEC * projects for 2024-2027. At the same time, the school has signed a double degree agreement with the Institute of Mathematics and the Institute of Computer Science of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

As part of the recent joint CDEFI**/CAPES*** 2023 call for projects, two BRAFITEC projects have been awarded to Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), of which Télécom Paris is a founding member, for the period 2024 to 2027. These projects will promote student mobility in our engineering curriculum and complement initiatives already underway, notably the BRAFITEC project on digital twins and smart cities, which Télécom Paris will pilot until 2026.

The first project is a partnership with the Universidade Estadual Paulista « Júlio de Mesquita Filho » (UNESP), the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG), and the Escola Politécnica da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Télécom Paris will coordinate this project, which focuses on intelligent systems for innovative robotic solutions.

The second IP Paris project, built with ISAE-SUPAERO, has the following Brazilian partners: Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) and Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG). Lead by ENSTA Paris, this project focuses on artificial intelligence in engineering education.

These initiatives are part of a close, long-term collaboration with Brazil. Over the past 30 years, Télécom Paris has developed a network of privileged partnerships, mainly in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais, giving rise to research cooperation and student and staff mobility. In all, Télécom Paris offers 11 double degree agreements, an IP Paris doctoral co-tutelle framework agreement with the Universidade de São Paulo, and exchange agreements.

As part of this strategy, in January 2024 Télécom Paris established a new double-degree agreement with the Mathematics and Computer Science Institutes of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), enhancing the partnership between the two institutions. This agreement enables students from the MSc in engineering at Télécom Paris and from the institutes concerned to participate in degree-granting mobility programs. Three students from UFRJ’s Computer Science Institute will start their two-year course at Télécom Paris in September 2024.

Thanks to these new agreements, Télécom Paris is strengthening its ties with leading Brazilian universities and pursuing its mission of training top-level engineers, ready to meet the technological challenges of the 21^st century, in an international and collaborative environment.

To find out more about Télécom Paris' international partnerships

* BRAFITEC (BRAsil France Ingénieurs TEChnologie) is a bilateral program between France and Brazil that supports the reciprocal mobility of engineering students in partner institutions for non-degree-granting study stays or double-diploma programs, and promotes academic cooperation between French schools and Brazilian universities. The duration of a project is 2 years, renewable once for a further 2 years, for a total of 4 years.

** In Brazil, CAPES is the MEC (Ministry of Education) agency in charge of managing and financing the BRAFITEC program.

*** In France, CDEFI is the managing body, with funding from the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR).