Description

The CIEE Business and Culture study abroad program in São Paulo, Brazil is designed for students with a background in business [college-level coursework in college-level micro- or macro-economics, accounting, finance, management, marketing, or statistics] and an interest in learning Portuguese. Students focus on issues relating to business in Brazil and Latin America, while improving their Portuguese or learning it for the first time.

Academic Program
The Business and Culture program offers students with varying levels of Portuguese language skills and interests in business and the Latin American region the opportunity to begin or continue their study of Portuguese. At the same time, they take business-related courses in one of the most economically important countries in the world. All students enroll in one Portuguese language course at an appropriate level. In addition, students enroll in coursework that is part of an International Program in Management (IPM) offered at FGV, an English language program geared to Brazilian and international students that have either completed their undergraduate degrees or are advanced undergraduate students. Students with advanced Portuguese language may directly enroll in courses taught in Portuguese at FGV on a case-by-case basis. FGV international office staff and CIEE Resident Staff work with students on their course registration prior to arrival.

Company Visits
A series of company visits is organized to complement academic study through firsthand exposure to business in Brazil. Students visit such places as Natura (a Brazilian cosmetics company that operates in an environmentally sustainable way), General Motors, Bloomberg, Globo, (Brazilian television network), and Bovespa (the São Paulo stock market).

Academic Culture
The academic culture at FGV focuses both on theoretical learning and practical knowledge. In the classroom, students are able to debate and discuss innovative management issues, analyze case studies, and participate in role-playing exercises to better understand business principles. Each IPM course at FGV meets for an eight-week module and is taught in English. The normal course load is three to four courses per module plus the CIEE language course. Students receive an IPM Diploma when they choose to take four courses in each module. Students should expect challenging coursework and a rigorous program of study. Under the supervision of the Resident Director, students may enroll in any IPM course. Direct enrollment courses, taught in Portuguese, run on a semester-long basis.

FGV follows a Southern Hemisphere academic calendar: the first semester of the academic year begins in late February and finishes in mid-June; the second semester begins in early August and ends in early December.

Academic year students have an eight-week break between the fall and spring semesters. Calendar year students have a break of approximately six weeks between the spring and fall semesters.