Rev. Fr. Hady Mahfouz, USEK President, received on October 5, 2010 the Ambassador of Brazil to Lebanon Paolo Roberto di Vantoura, besides a delegation from the Federal University of Parana in Brazil, presided by Prof. Alzir Felipe Buffara Antunes, International Affairs Officer, representing the President of the University Prof. Zaki Akel Sobrinho and accompanied by Prof. Jamil Zugheib. This visit comes at the invitation addressed by the USEK International Affairs Office and the Center of Studies of Latin America which aims at disseminating and promoting information about Latin America, establishing an information center about various cultures and researches in order to promote exchanges in all fields, besides creating a kind of reference for the Latin Americans allowing them to learn about Lebanon and the Middle East region.
The delegation made a tour across the USEK faculties, laboratories and Main Library accompanied by Ms. Rima Mattar, Director of the International Affairs Office and Mr. Roberto Khatlab, Director of the Center of Studies of Latin America. Fr. Mahfouz invited the delegation over a lunch at the University Restaurant wherein they discussed together joint educational and cultural concerns.
Furthermore, a cooperation agreement was signed between the two universities aiming at the establishment of a bilateral cooperation in order to promote students’ and lecturers’ exchange aiming at upholding scientific research, teaching, and the university administration, as well as organizing conferences and seminars, preparing joint programs in various academic fields, exchanging information related to curriculums, in addition to promoting research carried out by both universities, participating in colloquiums, issuing joint scientific publications, exchanging scientific and technical documents (i.e. books, specialized magazines, periodicals, etc.), planning, executing and developing joint projects, such as using the infrastructures available in both universities such as laboratories and libraries, in addition to cooperation among researchers. This agreement is valid for a period of five years and shall be effective from the date of signature. At the end of the visit, the Brazilian delegation presented to the USEK deans an overview about the Federal University of Parana.
It should be noted that the federal University of Parana is one of the most prestigious in Brazil and one of the 10 most important public universities, both in number of degree students and in research productivity. Established in 1912 and founded with five original schools, the University has grown in 98 years to 101 undergraduate and 90 graduate programs, with 33 000 students in 12 academic units. In addition, the University has five campuses, three affiliated teaching hospitals, two teaching emergency medical centers, two veterinary hospitals and three experimental farms.