Brazilian international education fair Global Access Through Education has announced its return after two years of absence. The event, the third for G.A.T.E., will take place in São Paulo on September 14 ,15 and 16.
GATE offers a platform for students and families to meet and speak with representatives of overseas institutions – international schools and universities – and learn about their programs.
The ultimate goal, GATE coordinator Débora Marangoni told The PIE News, is to increase the number of Brazilians studying abroad.
“We want students to know all the possibilities they can have by studying abroad,” Marangoni told The PIE News.
“The main goal of the event is to open more doors to every single student, so they have knowledge of what is outside [Brazil] for them.”
“We want students to know all the possibilities they can have by studying abroad”
Marangoni said the organisation expects at least 12,000 people to attend the events, which will feature 15 workshops and 12 lectures. These will be split between information for students on study opportunities, and information and training for teachers and other professionals.
The first GATE event was held in 2014. Originally organised by STB Student Travel Bureau Brazil, it is now an independent event, though STB have retained sponsorship.
Despite early success, the Brazilian economic crisis in 2015 put the brakes on GATE’s growth.
“Unfortunately, after 2015 the economy in Brazil changed,” Marangoni explained.
“We had quite a few hiccups here and there… so the event didn’t happen in the past few years.”
A weak economy is still the biggest challenge to outward student mobility, Marangoni said. But the appetite for an international education experience was always there – and she hopes the event will expose students to the right opportunities.
“The interest in studying abroad is alive as it has always been, but I think the issue was always more on the economy,” she said.
“The opportunity is there, we are connecting both ends.”
This view is supported by recent data from BELTA, which showed increases in both the number of mobile students, and the amount students are spending on travelling for study.
