Academics

Founded in 1934, the University of São Paulo (USP) is the largest institution of higher education and research in Brazil, and the third in size in Latin America. It is also classified among the largest one hundred of the approximately six thousand such organizations in existence in the world today. With its numerous accomplishments throughout the years, USP continues to evolve in the areas of education, science, technology, and the arts. USP has approximately 60,000 students, 5,000 professors and 22,000 employees.

Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) is one of the four federally-funded public universities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has six campuses in the city of Niterói, on the North-East side of Guanabara Bay, and another 12 satellite campuses in various towns of the state. The university was founded in 1960. It has about 21,600 undergraduate and 2700 graduate students, and about 2100 faculty. The word Fluminense means pertaining to the state of Rio de Janeiro; it comes from Latin word flumen ("river").

Required Coursework

During the semester, exchange students will take three courses, plus an internship or research experience. All courses should deal with special education, social and health policy or government and political theory, as it relates to social institutions. Students will also have the opportunity to conduct research and/or field activities under the supervision of a faculty on site.

Students can take up to 18 credits during their semester in Brazil.

Transfer Credit

At the end of the semester, all grades earned in Brazil will appear as transfer credit on each student's University of Maryland transcript. All accepted students must discuss their course selections with their academic departments in order to determine how courses taken in Brazil will count towards graduation requirements.