Regional Snapshot: The Americas

In addition to maintaining a wide network of research partners and initiatives in conjunction with partners across the Americas, Pitt offers numerous opportunities for students and faculty to study or work abroad, learn languages, and focus on a global education no matter their area of study.

Featured Partnerships

The University of Pittsburgh currently has approximately 55 agreements with international partner institutions in the Americas as of Fall 2022. Key partners in this region include:

Location: Recife, Brazil

Website: https://portal.fiocruz.br/en

University Lead: University of Pittsburgh Schools for the Health Sciences

 

Located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, FIOCRUZ is an institution for research and development in biological sciences. The organization opened in 1898 as the Federal Sero Therapy Institute with the objective of developing vaccines against the bubonic plague. When Oswaldo Cruz assumed its leadership in 1902 it became a key institution for fighting numerous outbreaks including yellow fever and smallpox.

 

Today, FIOCRUZ provides a variety of resources and focuses on the reduction of social inequalities and defends the right to health for all citizens. Key initiatives involve: hospital and ambulatory care; health-related research; development of vaccines, drugs, reagents, and diagnostic kits; research, development and production; training of public health and health workers; and providing information and communications related to health, science, and technology.

 

Active Formalized Agreements:

  • Memorandum of Understanding between FIOCRUZ and Pitt’s Schools for Health Sciences

 

Featured Program:

Pitt and FIOCRUZ have signed an MOU that strives to explore areas of mutual academic interest and wish to further their common objectives in research and education in the fields of global and public health. This newly developed agreement hopes to create opportunities for graduate student exchange, faculty exchange, and the exchange of scientific, educational, and scholarly materials.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Website: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/global/pints
University Lead: Global Studies Center (GSC)

 

Administered by the Global Studies Center with support from the Provost's Office, the PiNTS network convenes diverse local and national partner organizations to bring threatened scholars, artists, and practitioners to Pitt and to Pittsburgh. The program aims to provide scholars with safe and stable working and living environments as a way of helping them to regain their footing, rebuild their professional networks, and reset their careers.

 

By leveraging the Provost's funding with GSC endowment monies and partnerships with national organizations like the Artist Protection Fund and the Scholar Rescue Fund, PiNTS provides its visitors with salaries, benefits, visa and other legal assistance, and help acclimating to University and local life. Through membership of the New University in Exile Consortium, PiNTS provides scholars with intellectual and professional development opportunities and a network for engagement with similarly situated colleagues around the world. Scholars work with Pitt faculty and students – as teachers, interlocutors, and colleagues – and contribute to the rich intellectual life of the University.

 

Past scholars include a political scientist from Turkey, a Vietnamese rock star and free speech activist, a Congolese documentary filmmaker, and a Cuban dissident couple (a writer and a women’s rights activist). PiNTS also has emergency efforts underway to assist scholars displaced as a result of the changing political situation in Afghanistan.

Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

Website: https://um.edu.uy/

University Lead: Center for Latin American Studies

 

Opened in 1986 and officially receiving university status in 1997, the Universidad de Montevideo is a non-profit higher education institution ranked as the number one University in Uruguay by the QS World University Rankings. It is comprised of seven schools and offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the arts, business, communications, economics, education, engineering, film studies, humanities, Latin American studies, law, liberal arts, mathematics, social sciences, technology, translation, and health care.

 

Active Formalized Agreements:

  • Undergraduate Exchange Agreement between University of Montevideo and Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and College of Business Administration

 

Featured Program:

This nontraditional undergraduate exchange agreement offers opportunities for students enrolled in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and College of Business Administration to spend a summer at the University of Montevideo, taking a single class. In exchange, a small number of University of Montevideo students attend the University of Pittsburgh for a full semester. For instance, if 15 Pitt students each take a 3-credit hour class during a summer, totaling 45 credits, then up to 3 UM students may come to Pitt for a full semester taking up to 15 credits each.

Locations: Calgary, Canada

Website: https://www.ucalgary.ca/

University Lead: Global Partnerships and Partner Engagement Team, University Center for International Studies

 

The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Composed of 14 faculties and over 85 research institutes and centers, the university engages over 33,000 students across five campuses and is regarded as one of Canada’s top universities in both global and research.

 

Featured Program:

The University of Calgary and the University of Pittsburgh have joined to share best practices and discuss the importance of partnership assessment, challenges, the development of these critical tools, and how to proactively ensure that universities and partner institutions act more nimbly, collaboratively, and strategically in a dynamic and increasingly globalized world. 

 

After launching the International Partnerships Assessment Rating Index (IPARI) in 2017, the University of Calgary has been utilizing their award-winning tool to track and monitor partnerships and integrated the data into institutional strategies. Recognizing the need to build upon the original model to align with new priorities and include more qualitative data, IPARI 2.0 is now in its developmental phase.

 

Building upon IPARI’s framework, the University of Pittsburgh’s Global Partnership Inventory Tracking Tool (GPITT) was developed in 2021. The GPITT incorporates additional focused data points and qualitative assessment of past and current partnership engagement. This tool will set the stage for the next iteration of the GPITT which will proactively examine untapped collaboration opportunities with the most strategic partners. 

 

Co-presentations include both virtual and in-person sessions, roundtables, and workshops at conferences of the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE), and The Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE). For more information, on the GPITT and upcoming presentations, visit globalpartnerships.pitt.edu/partnerships-at-pitt/GPITT