The Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA) at Unicamp, in Limeira, officially launched its new undergraduate program in International Relations (IR) during the event “Internationalization via Digital Platforms”, held this Tuesday (4). The meeting, organized by Professor Cristiano Morini, brought together researchers, students and staff from the Faculty and specialists from Sebrae and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) to discuss how the new program can democratize access to foreign trade for Brazilian companies and strengthen the regional economy.
According to the current Director of FCA, Professor Milena Pavan Serafim, the launch of the new undergraduate program marks a historic moment for the institution: "Today marks the beginning of a second cycle of expansion for FCA," she stated, recalling that the college began its journey in 2009 and is now expanding its reach with courses born from direct societal demands.
Serafim highlighted that, unlike the initial undergraduate programs proposed by the University Council, the International Relations and Artificial Intelligence courses emerged because the community recognized this need in light of the current geopolitical situation. The director emphasized Unicamp's social role in opening doors to traditionally elitist careers. "Our desire is to train qualified professionals in areas that are generally socially exclusive," she explained. According to Serafim, barriers such as the requirement of multiple languages often deter candidates, but Unicamp's open entrance exam allows people who "historically would not work" in this area to enter the field of International Relations. The professor also reinforced the commitment to academic decentralization: "If we want to be a multi-campus university, we need to strengthen the campuses outside Barão Geraldo."
The Executive Director of International Relations at Unicamp, Professor Rafael Dias, explained that the undergraduate program will have an interdisciplinary foundation and synergy with Artificial Intelligence to create prospective models and identify global trends. Dias argued that IR professionals should be able to build resilience strategies to protect the local economy and culture from rapid transformations, such as the political use of social media or international tariffs. "We need to understand how changes that we cannot prevent impact the daily operations of a company in the interior of São Paulo so that they affect us less negatively," he pointed out.
Cristiano Morini, a professor in the undergraduate and graduate programs in Administration at Unicamp and coordinator of the Laboratory for Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and International Trade, presented digital platforms as the engine of "micro-multinationals." According to Morini, small businesses, such as a São Paulo factory with only 15 employees, managed to export to 15 countries in two years using global marketplaces. He explained that these platforms offer logistics and payment infrastructure, allowing companies to explore niche markets and become less dependent on traditional partners. "When there are difficulties in the external environment, this can generate opportunities and facilities that we hadn't seen before."
According to Morini, the International Relations course at Unicamp will help train qualified professionals to understand the evolution of globalization and identify niche opportunities in specific markets. “Even in the face of tariff increases or anti-globalization trends, new windows are emerging to explore markets that were previously ignored, reducing dependence on traditional partners like the United States. The goal is to transform external difficulties into opportunities, generating employment and income for the country.”
The event also featured the participation of Olavo Henrique Furtado, from the Export Qualification Program (PEIEX), an initiative carried out through an agreement between ApexBrasil and SEBRAE. During his presentation, Furtado highlighted that Brazil accounts for less than 2% of world trade, emphasizing that Latin America represents a strategic market for small businesses to conduct their first export tests. He also presented the role of PEIEX, whose main mission is to technically qualify companies, offering support so that they can start or expand their export operations with greater security and competitiveness.
The impact of the new course and the topics discussed at the event for the municipality of Limeira was highlighted by the Secretary of Economic Development, Daniel Bonatti. He sees the interaction between the city's companies and the experts and students from Unicamp as a tool for talent retention and regional development. Bonatti also stated that strengthening this training ecosystem prevents the loss of qualified professionals to international remote work and should create public servants capable of making strategic decisions for the country.
The event, held in partnership with the City Hall, concluded with focus group activities with businesspeople from the region, led by Morini and postdoctoral researcher Eduardo Avancci, as part of a research project supported by FAPESP. The objective was to hear from companies that already export, as well as those that intend to begin operating in the international market, to identify challenges, opportunities, and demands related to the internationalization process.
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