Brazil convened the first ever Brazil-Africa Rectors Forum on 25th to 27th May 2026. The Forum brought together rectors and international cooperation advisors from Brazilian universities and universities from Africa. The objective of the forum was to consolidate and strategically expand Brazil-Africa university partnerships through:
- Promoting the signing of new agreements and expansion of existing ones.
- Enhancing visibility of existing Brazil-Africa collaborations with Lusophone, Francophone and Anglophone countries
- Publicizing student mobility schemes, notably PEC-PG and PEC-G
- Stimulating cooperation in priority areas such as agriculture, renewable energy, mining, oil and gas.
The opening of the forum which coincided with Africa Day was graced by President Lula Inacio da Silva and was attended by the Ministers of Education, Foreign Affairs and Racial Equality of Brazil. During the session, the President announced the launch of the CAPES Move Africa program, an initiative of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES/MEC).
The program will foresee the initial offering of 2,600 postgraduate scholarships for African students to complete part of their studies at Brazilian educational and research institutions. 1,600 scholarships will be available for sandwich master’s programs and 1,000 for sandwich doctoral programs, with a total investment of R$ 47.4 million.
