SPONSORSHIP EXPERIENCES

We want to keep on adressing testimonies of students who were capable of being sponsored when travelling for SABF.
Today, we offer you the story of two students from Brazil who took part in the 5th Edition of SABF.
We really hope these stories help you to take part in our forum, and what’s more, allow you to know, financial situations are not a limit nor a main factor to be a SABF participant.

Hânder Costa Leal,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Hânder received financial help from his university. Here is his story.
“The Department of Research from my university (PROPESQ/UFRGS) provides students who want to go to academic-related activities (both in other regions of Brazil and in the MERCOSUR contries) with a small financial help of R$300,00 (~US$ 150,00) in a reimbursement to be paid when the student presents the certificate. This, provided that he or she orders the financial help at least a month prior to the event date. It does not cover all the travel expanses, but is a good help.

I live in Porto Alegre, the closest Brazilian large-sized city to Buenos Aires, and paid R$500,00 for my travel tickets. One important thing is that the financial help only applies to students that have some kind of paper or essay to be presented in the event, as is the case of a SABFER applicant. This essay must be attached on the online financial help application form. I guess that this frame is worth to most of Brazilian public universities. The private ones use to provide more generous financial help to their students.”

**Joao Gabriel Costa Pinheiro, IBMEC Rio de Janeiro, Brazil **
*Joao tells us the difference between both kinds of universities. *

“I go to both a Private University, where I study International Relations, and a Public one, where I study Law. In a Public University you’ll rarely get a full sponsorship if you get anything at all. The procedure is usually bureaucratic and very long. Some universities (like Hânder’s) have a pre-established limit to undergraduate funding, which is usually not enough to buy a flight ticket.

In a Private University things can be different. I say “can be” and not “are” because, even though you do have some few very good and wealthy private institutions which will usually cover travel expanses to undergraduate students selected to participate in international events, most private universities are low-quality colleges, with way too many students and sometimes high debts.

In order not to waste our time, we should focus on the first kind. Those are mainly Ibmec, PUC and Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro; Insper, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, PUC in São Paulo; Fundação Dom Cabral and Ibmec in Minas Gerais, among few others.”

So, asking your University for help may result very useful!