Black Institutions Reach Out to Hispanic Populations; Benefit Culturally, Financially - Higher Education: As the 2013-2014 academic year began, Jackson State University in Mississippi and Southern University at Baton Rouge in Louisiana were welcoming to their campuses dozens of students from Brazil for intensive courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as in English language skills. At both schools, the Brazilian students’ presence culminated months of planning as part of diversity initiatives put forth by the institutions. It was also a part of Brazil’s Scientific Mobility Program sponsored by the Brazilian government.
The scientific mobility program is part of the Brazilian government’s larger effort to grant 100,000 scholarships for the best students from Brazil to study abroad. The program contains an HBCU Initiative, which provides scholarships to some of its undergraduate students for study at 30 Black colleges and universities in the United States. Scholarships are given primarily to students in the STEM fields, and students participating in the program are required to return to Brazil to complete their degrees. HBCUs lobbied for inclusion in the program, which originally involved traditionally White institutions.
