It will provide at least 33 bursaries of up to $5,000 in 2017 to offset the costs of studying abroad, the association has said.

The announcement comes a year after CICan’s Canada-Brazil Scholarship Program, which provided one-off scholarships for 19 Brazilian students to study in Canada last year.

“In some cases, the experience abroad may be an integral part of a course or program”

The decision to focus on outbound mobility this year came after institutions in both countries identified a need to promote two-way student mobility by also providing support for Canadian students to study abroad, the association said.

“Canadian colleges and institutes have a long and fruitful history of collaboration with their counterparts in Brazil and have hosted many Brazilian students and teachers over the years,” commented CICan’s president and CEO, Denise Amyot.

“We are thrilled that Canadian students will now be able to benefit from this relationship to expand their horizons and gain valuable international experience.”

The type of study placements the scholarships will fund has yet to be decided, as CICan is still in the preliminary development stages of the program, Marie-Josée Fortin, CICan’s director of international partnerships, said.

“Over the next few months, we will be working in collaboration with the participating colleges to determine the type of experience abroad that better suits the institutions,” she told The PIE News. “In some cases, the experience abroad may be an integral part of a course or program.”

CICan will also work with its Brazilian counterpart, Conif, to develop a format that suits the hosting federal institutes in Brazil.

Though it won’t provide another large tranche of scholarships for Brazilian students this year, CICan will provide funding for two students enrolled at federal institutes of technology in the north of Brazil to study in Canada.

The two scholarships will include a French or English language training component, followed by two post-secondary semesters, and an internship or research project, lasting up to 16 months in total.