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Kerstin

  • Blumenau, Brasilien
  • Staff Mobility
  • The University of Blumenau
  • Wintersemester 2023/2024

UAS Technikum Wien has currently two partnerships in South America, one of them is with Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB) in Blumenau, Brazil. The International Office is always keen to ensure that partnerships are active and characterized by frequent mobilities. In order to revitalize and improve the partnership between FURB and UAS Technikum Wien, a visit was organized in January 2024. 

Blumenau: Brazil’s little Germany & Silicon Valley

The city’s name Blumenau doesn’t just sound German, it is German. Blumenau was founded as a German colony in 1850 and is named after the pharmacist Hermann Blumenau. Although, Blumenau’s population mainly speaks Portuguese nowadays, the German influence is still visible. Each year, Blumenau celebrates the Oktoberfest, which is the biggest Oktoberfest in Latin America!

Blumenau is situated in the southern federal state Santa Catarina, which is one of the smaller federal states of Brazil. Presently, Blumenau has over 300.000 inhabitants and is home to several large national and international companies. Due to the settlement of numerous companies that specialize in information technology, Blumenau (and the surrounding area) is also known as the “Brazilian Silicon Valley”.

Picture Gallery: Blumenau City (and surroundings)

Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB): Focused on the needs of society

FURB is one of the oldest and largest universities in Santa Catarina. It offers a variety of degree programs – from humanities to technical degree programs. Due to its location, FURB maintains a close cooperation with Santa Catarina’s industry.

But FURB is not only closely cooperating with (inter-)national companies, FURB also has a very specific approach to its city and its inhabitants. The social needs of the city play an important role in the design of FURB. This can be seen in various projects, such as:

  1. FURB offers free charging stations for e-bikes and electric cars on Campus II. Everybody can use them – you don’t have to study or teach there. The electricity is drawn from the campus’ own solar panels.
  2. Furbot project: Students develop approaches (digital and analog, e.g. apps or board games) to raise awareness of technology and logical thinking skills in public schools. They regularly visit public elementary schools and present their creations. Public schools in Brazil are badly equipped, however with the FURB’s help, disadvantaged sections of the population get access to education and technology.  Students from different study programs (Computer Science, Marketing, Arts, Education) work together on this transdisciplinary approach.
  3. Red Howler Monkey Project: This breed of monkey, which is native to some Latin American countries, is currently threatened by extinction. Together with a zoologist, an app is being developed to enable recognition without sedation. 

Impressions & Outcome

During my time at FURB I had the opportunity to visit different locations of the university and to get to know various projects. Beside that, I had a productive exchange with the International Office, different lecturers and the rector herself. Due to its excellent cooperation with the local industries, FURB offers a perfect opportunity for our students to do an internship for their Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis here. A regular exchange semester is possible as well, but as the list of courses held in English is limited, students need Portuguese language skills.

Blumenau and its surroundings offer plenty of leisure activities. The city is home to various museums and the Vila Germanica Park, where the Oktoberfest is celebrated every year. Blumenau is also the ideal place in Brazil to enjoy a local beer in a “Biergarten”.

The sea can be reached within two hours (Balneário Camboriú or Florianópolis have wonderful beaches! 😊), there are a lot of hiking possibilities and national parks in Santa Catarina and if you want to explore more of Brazil – which I highly recommend – you can be in Rio de Janeiro or São Paolo within a few hours.

Picture Gallery: Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB)