Brazil Centre celebrates tenth anniversary

© Brazil Centre For more than 50 years now the University of Münster has been collaborating with universities in Brazil, 9,000 kilometres away, and it has long since developed into a university with especially wide-ranging, intensive contacts with the country. Over time, a strategic partnership grew up which, exactly ten years ago, in June 2010, gave rise to the Brazil centre. "It was time to bring together all our Brazil-related activities in the fields of research, teaching, studies and transfer and to professionalize our consultancy and support work," says Research Coordinator Prof. Bernd Hellingrath, looking back at the establishment of the Centre. The central tasks which the Brazil Centre has include providing a reception, as well as advisory services, for academics and students - both from Münster University and from Brazilian institutions - and coordinating and providing support for delegations of Brazilian academics, as well as for individual visits. Since 2012, the University of Münster has maintained a Liaison Office in São Paulo for the purpose of extending contacts locally. "For Brazilians, personal contact is very important for building trust," says Anja Grecko Lorenz, a Brazilian by birth, who headed the Liaison Office for a long time and, for the past two years, has been the General Manager of the Brazil Centre in Münster. One highlight of the past ten years was the establishment of the Brazil Chair in 2012.