International

Application Procedure

UFF’s PostGraduate Program in Communication offers vacancies for international students at their own request, if they meet the needs of the Program.

Requests must be made before May 31th of each year.

They must include:

• a letter explaining the motivations of the candidate to study at UFF’s Post Graduate Program in Communication
• a Curriculum Vitae
• a summary of the Research Project (about 2000 characters), including the subject, object and objectives of the research project, as well as a basic bibliography.

The opening of a vacancy and the details for selection will be defined each year for every particular demand.

There are no fees, whether for Brazilian or for International students.

First Aid Kit for International Students

Visa and Insurance

In order to obtain your visa, you must take the acceptance letter issued by UFF to your Brazilian Consulate or Ambassy.

All exchange student must have the Temporario 4 visa, which can be valid up to 12 months.

This visa does not allow the student, under any circumstances, to work in Brazil.

It is not possible to change a tourist visa into a student visa if the person is already in Brazil.

It is mandatory to have valid health insurance for your stay in Brazil, which should be subscribed privately in your country.

After arrival

Within 30 days after arrival, you have to register at the Immigration Service, subordinated to the Federal Police Department (DPF). After this period, you have to pay a fine for each day of delay. At the moment of registration, your identification card will be issued.

The necessary documents are:

• passport and one identified copy of the used paged (you can identify the pages at any Cartorio)
• 2 recent color pictures (3 x 4 cm) on white background
• original visa application form (Temporario 4)
• GRU registration form and GRU foreign ID form. Access the website of the DPF and complete both of the forms online (140082 and 140120), print them, go to the bank and pay the fee BEFORE going to the Police Department.

In Niteroi, the Immigration Service is located at

Praca Fonseca Ramos, s/n, Centro

Registration for Erasmus Mundus – Interzones Doctoral Students

You should not forget to register at UFF (immatriculation) for each of the three years of your Erasmus Mundus Interzones Doctorate. You may only geographically study at UFF for one or two semesters, but the research activities between you and your UFF supervisor will be conducted over the entire course of the Program.

To do so, you should contact Silvinha ( silvia@vm.uff.br ), and the Program Coordinator, Prof. Simone (sibonei.sa@gmail.com), every February-March.

Housing

You may ask PPGCOM’s Secretary [See Contact Page] to ask for a placement with a Brazilian family.

In Rio, it is expensive to rent a flat for a single person.

Many people rent rooms, or a bed within a dormitory room. You may or may not be able to access other facilities then, such as the kitchen or common areas. When renting a room, most landlords will not accept that you invite people overnight, or invite people without warning them in advance. Most short term rentals do not have a signed agreement.

Some links for short term room rentals:

http://www.easyquarto.com.br/rio-de-janeiro/rio-de-janeiro-capital-companheiros-de-quarto

http://dividir-apartamento.vivastreet.com.br/alugar-quarto-vaga

http://www.riotemporada.net/

Long term rent agreements are made for a two-year period. While it is easy (but more expensive) to find short term rentals (1-3 months), it is uncommon to find a middle term rental (12 months).

For a long term rental, you will need:

2 people for the guarantee or Seguro Finança (which does not work for students)

It may also be possible to find a landlord who accepts that you pay the rent in advance (for 3 months of insurance + 1 month of rent for example).

A letter of acceptance from the University and the passport may be asked.

To install internet and phone, you will need to get a CPF, which you can do by going to the central agency of Banco do Brasil, pay and then receive a receipt which you will need to take to the Receita Federal.

Transportation

From/to Rio:

Buses: 740D – 750D – 751D – 775D (lapa). R$ 5.50

It is a 45-60min ride, although you should avoid taking the bus from Niteroi to Rio in the morning (until 10am) and from Rio to Niteroi in the evening (from 4pm to 8pm), due to traffic.

In Rio and in Niteroi, GoogleMaps is the best option to find out which bus you need to take. They do not cover intercity busses, however, but you can find the information on www.vadeonibus.com.br

Minivans (similar route than the buses, R$ 5)

Ferry: from Praca XV (Rio) to Avenida Rio Branco (Niteroi). Takes 20 min. Departure every 20 min (on average).

Cultural Events

In Rio, you can find the schedule of all upcoming cultural activities in the supplement of the Friday newspaper, O Globo.

Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Partnership

In July 2010, the European EACEA (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency) chose the consortium “Cultural Studies in Literary Interzones” among 160 applications for the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Doctorates. This consortium was created by the following universities: Bergamo (coordinator, Italy), Perpignan (France), Tübingen (Germany), Jawaharlal Nehru (India) and Federal Fluminense (Brazil). It is the only Humanities program among the 13 universities selected by the European Commission.

This Erasmus Mundus Doctorate offers a mobility program between the five funding universities, which deliver diplomas, and eleven other partner universities. It is open to students from any country. Fellowships are available: during the three years of the Program doctorants / researchers receive 2000 Euros net by month, as well as a travel and installation costs allowance. The young researchers are offered to enter a rich and complex cultural ground and thus develop innovative transversal research methods in the field of Cultural Studies.

The Interzones Doctorate Program emphasizes the richness of cultural and university exchanges, thus presenting the newest and most interesting aspects of Cultural Studies and Compared Literature, and bringing forth the invention of new concepts which will impregnate 21st century thought. The consortium does not wish to impose new theories which would replace existing theoretical approaches, but rather encourages the young researchers to examine questions demanding new and complex approaches.

The mobility agenda of the Interzones Consortium creates an international research laboratory, alive and unpredictable, composed of the partner research centres. The main objective of the program is to transform gifted students into “global academics”. The future Interzones’ Doctors explore cultural and linguistic diversities as the object of their study as well as in their professional and living practices. They thus embody a new image of a global Professor, acutely immersed in other cultures, who experiments the richness of various literary and artistic forms and different modes of thought.

Students who would like to apply to the Interzones Doctoral Program must possess a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in the fields of Comparative Literature, Communication, Cultural Studies of Visual Anthropology. They must master English, French and a third European language among Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Russian, Polish or Catalan. During the six consecutive semesters, the young researchers study in three or four universities. The first induction semester is necessarily spent in Bergamo, the coordinating university. Then researchers must spend semesters 2 and 3, and 5 and 6 in two of the five degree awarding universities.

Depending on the nature of the research project, doctoral students choose to study in one of the eleven other partner institutions during the fourth semester: Aix-en-Provence, Barcelona, Brown, Buenos Aires, Krakow, Mexico, Paris 3 Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Paris 10, Saint Petersburg, Sydney  or  Zurich. At the end of the six semesters, doctoral students must have obtained 180 ECTS: 120 for their doctoral thesis and 60 for extra-curricular activities such as publishing articles, organizing symposiums or teaching at University level. The successful doctoral students obtain a PhD diploma from the two degree-awarding universities where they have studied, as well as a mention from the other partner university where they have spent a semester. Students cannot choose degree-awarding universities in their country of origin, or in the country where they have previously graduated.

The Academic Council, composed of representatives from the five founding universities, of six representatives from the eleven partner universities and of one external expert, selects applications during the consortium’s yearly meeting in January according to excellence standards and criteria defined and approved by the European Union. Selected applications are then evaluated by the European Commission. The school year begins in September, according to the European University calendar.

For additional information, please look at the Interzones’ website: http://www.mundusphd-interzones.eu/

If you have additional questions, you may send an email to the Program’s Coordinating Assistant, Dr. Elena Mazzoleni: interzones.phd@unibg.it