Internationalization Of Higher Education: A New Option For Engineering Education

Third Millennium has started and has brought a new political and social world order that has never happened before in human history. As one of the deep consequences of that, for society is the emerging of different paradigms for education in all levels. For high education the necessary changes are even more immediate although it is not an easy task. Superior education institutions are running fast to modernize and to form the new professional for XXI Century. In engineering education field it is not different, as well as in any other area there is the necessity of a professional qualified and mainly with skills to act locally in a global context. These peculiar aspects of education leads to some necessities that have emerged worldwide and in the list of the most important is the international experience in the formation of the future professional. In South America the efforts of creating a similar education system in every level has been enhanced by the Mercosul that propitiates an extensive discussion. In engineering education field these efforts have been enriched by the efforts of Iberia Peninsula Education Institutions of Engineering to foster the exchange of experiences and the development of projects between engineering education institutions from South America countries and Iberia Peninsula countries. The biannual meetings with all the engineering institutions since 1997 have been presenting good results so far and in 2001 during the ASIBEI meeting the “Rio Declaration” has generated some guidelines for future conversations about collaborative programs, which is very positive considering the very different social and cultural realities of the two continents. The perspectives for the future are promising once some activities have already started and the existence already of French-Brazilian and Italian-Brazilian diplomas as one example of international formation for engineers. At the moment it is not possible to predict the future of the discussions and experiences in engineering education between both continents but there is no step back and the academic midst has felt it. This is an ambitious project that although it is very difficult to accomplish is at the same time so much necessary.