Helping students develop well-informed methodologies and solutions to deal with real-life problems in various areas, including public health, criminal justice, economics, and human development is the main goal of the Summer Institute in Social Research Methods (SISRM), a program by University of Chicago, in the US.

 

With 130 years of history, the institution serves more than 18,000 undergraduate students. Among students and faculty, 97 Nobel Prize winners have been part of the school. As an element of the university’s internationalization, the program in Social Research Methods has been growing rapidly — in 2021, for instance, it received 70 students. In 2023, the SISRM will take place from June 12 to August 19 and will receive five undergraduate students from Insper. The initiative has financial support from the Haddad Foundation.

 

It is the second strategic partnership signed by Insper this year with a Higher Education Institution from the US — first, with the Engineering School of the University of Illinois, and now the University of Chicago, with which Insper has had a cooperation agreement since 2000.

 

“Despite our brief history of just over 20 years – compared to around 160 of the University of Illinois and 130 years of the University of Chicago – Insper has already positioned itself as an institution of excellence, both nationally and internationally, through our international accreditations, our research, our participation in different forums aimed at promoting quality education in the world”, Professor Irineu Gianesi, Dean of Academic Affairs at Insper, comments.

 

“This is an agreement that will positively impact the training of our students involved in the undergraduate scientific research, through courses and practical activities in applied research”, Professor Gianesi adds. “The ability to understand and apply scientific methods to understand phenomena and be able to make decisions based on data is one of the most desired skills by the most relevant companies and organizations, being it a differential of those students from institutions that work with teaching and research, such as Insper.”

 

Internationalization

 

Insper has more than 100 cooperation agreements with universities all around the world. Most consist of student exchange programs, but some of these partnerships are deeper and more strategic, combining different dimensions. This is the case of the initiatives created with the universities of Illinois and Chicago.

 

“The best universities in the world are always looking for collaborations that allow their students to develop a more global and multicultural perspective, in the direction of forming citizens who work for a better world. Many have found in Insper a partner with which they can expand their reach in Latin America and, at the same time, learn from what we develop here in terms of teaching and knowledge generation on Brazil”, Professor Gianesi says.

 

Insper has been investing in expanding the range of partnerships, in addition to diversifying the types of agreements. “We are advancing more intensely in our internationalization process”, reports the Director of Academic Affairs. “Right now, we are expanding the range of more strategic partnerships, which go beyond student exchange programs. This means developing opportunities for research collaboration, faculty exchange, as well as double degrees, among others.”