Twenty-six FGV students from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo has just returned from the 12^th edition of the FGV-Sorbonne Exchange Program, called “European Culture: Heritage and Modernity.” This is an academic exchange program with Sorbonne University, Paris, one of Europe’s best higher education institutions.

Students must take French classes before they can participate in the program. They spend six weeks in Paris, immersed in training in the arts and humanities, involving lectures, cultural activities and visits, professional meetings and master classes. The program usually takes place in January and February, and at the end, they receive a certificate from the university.

According to Professor Charlotte Riom, the program’s manager, many students choose to study at FGV partly because of this initiative, and a significant number of participants later return to France to do a sandwich master’s or doctorate.

Since 2010, 236 students have taken part in this program and 53 have subsequently gone on to do another exchange program in France or another French-speaking country. The program is open to undergraduate students at all FGV schools in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, between the third and sixth semester. There is a selection process, which includes a grade point average assessment. Only the academically best candidates are chosen.

The program is open to students doing the following courses: 

Rio de Janeiro

• Economics (FGV EPGE)
• Public and Business Administration (FGV EBAPE)
•  Social Sciences (FGV CPDOC)
• Data Science and Applied Mathematics (FGV EMAp)
•  Law (FGV Rio de Janeiro Law School)

Sao Paulo

• Law (FGV Sao Paulo Law School)
• International Relations (FGV RI)
• Economics (FGV EESP)
• Business Administration (FGV EAESP)

Some of the class members who recently returned from France were selected in 2020 but were unable to do the program in 2021 or 2022 because of the pandemic. The other class members were selected last year. The students returned happy and proud of their experience, which opened up new professional and academic perspectives.

The program’s general coordinator is Marieta de Moraes Ferreira, executive editor of FGV Press, researcher and professor of history, specializing in the history of the Brazilian Republic. Its manager is Charlotte Riom, adjunct professor at FGV, where she teaches as part of this exchange program.