Internationalization of higher education in the west of Santa Catarina: the experience of a community university

Abstract

This text emerges from a macro research project developed by the International Group of Studies and Research of Higher Education - GIEPES UNICAMP, which investigates the internationalization of higher education in Ibero-American territory. In this research, 22 (twenty-two) universities from 9 (9) countries participate, one of them being the University of the West of Santa Catarina (Unoesc), an institution characterized in the community model, public of private law, located in western Santa Catarina. The aim of this article was to analyze how Unoesc develops its processes of academic mobility in undergraduate and graduate studies, among its professors, students and administrative technicians. The scientific methodology used in this investigation was the historical-critical, based on the Historical-Critical Pedagogy, developed by Saviani (2013), and which has as one of the master pillars the dialectical historical materialism. The categorization instrument was content analysis by Bardin (2016). As results, it was evidenced that for Unoesc academic mobility is still one of the largest fronts of internationalization. It is worth mentioning that internationalization is still the way to consolidate research, teaching and extension, aiming not to lose its space in the face of the competitive market. In addition, they have a specific body, since 2010, to deal with issues related to academic mobility, demonstrating that for 11 years this Institution of Higher Education is concerned with having internationalization fronts beyond the capitalist market.