In order to increase international opportunities for their students and faculty, Harvard Law School (HLS) and the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) Law Schools in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, have established an exchange program. The agreement enables selected HLS students to enroll at FGV and selected FGV students to study at HLS beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year.
“I am delighted that HLS is forming links with the Fundação Getulio Vargas Law Schools both in São Paulo and Rio,” said HLS Professor Bill Alford ’77, vice dean for the graduate program and international legal studies. “Brazil is so important to understand, for its own sake and as it poses challenges to the ways in which Americans think about law and development, intellectual property, corporate law and many other issues. FGV enjoys a richly deserved reputation for innovation and excellence in these areas. Both programs are headed by distinguished HLS graduates, Joaquim Falcão LL.M. ’68 in Rio and Ary Oswaldo Mattos Filho LL.M. ’68 in São Paulo. This new partnership will enable us to build on the years of important links with Brazil crafted by a number of HLS faculty including Roberto Mangabeira Unger LL.M. ’70 S.J.D. ’76, Henry Steiner ’55, Jim Cavallaro, and Terry Fisher.”
Up to two HLS J.D. students and two FGV 5th year undergraduate students can participate in the exchange for one semester. In addition, there will be an exchange of one HLS doctoral (S.J.D.) student and one FGV graduate student. The exchange also creates opportunities for faculty members from both institutions to undertake collaborative research and teaching.
“This agreement between HLS and FGV is of special importance to both institutions as well as for our respective countries” said Professor Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, FGV president. “HLS, whose academic excellence is celebrated worldwide, will find in FGV a partner ready to seek inspiration in its new partner’s solid scholarly tradition.”
Harvard Law School was founded in 1817 and has been shaping and influencing the teaching of law in the United States and worldwide since then. The HLS curriculum and its international strategy are changing in order to meet the demands of a globalized world. This exchange agreement with Brazil represents a strengthening of HLS’s commitment to involvement in Latin America. HLS will benefit from the on-site support provided by the Brazil Office of Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in São Paulo.
Fully conscious of the importance of international academic cooperation, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) has been working for the past two decades to increase opportunities for its faculty and students abroad and also offer opportunities for foreign students and faculty to study, teach and research in Brazil. As part of its effort to achieve these objectives, FGV has already established formal exchange agreements with outstanding institutions in France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Japan and India, as well as other countries.
For additional information, click here to view the study abroad program website. Click here to view the FGV website.