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This story announces an exciting collaboration between two educational entities in Brazil and the United States.

On Friday, May 17, 2024, the University of Missouri established an important collaboration with Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM), an esteemed Business College and higher education leader in Brazil in the fields of Communication, Marketing, Consumer Management, Creative Economy, and Technology. 

Mizzou Academy is dedicated to preparing students for post-secondary success and supporting them in achieving their higher education goals. Several years ago, in partnership with the University of Missouri’s Office of International Admissions we established MizzouDirect. This pathway offers qualifying students pre-admittance to the University of Missouri. With this collaboration, we now have a similar streamlined opportunity that is much closer to home for our Brazilian students.

Mizzou Academy Core Values include innovation, partnership, inclusion, and access. This collaboration focuses on our value of access.  

Mizzou Academy – Core Value Focus (Access)
Belief	All learners should have access to high-quality educational programs.
Guiding Question	How can we support the diverse needs and contexts of our students and partners?
Our commitments to access extend across technology, economic considerations, curriculum, instruction, support services, and partner relationships that honor local contexts. Our multifaceted access work includes developing user-friendly systems and a variety of instructional models to accommodate the different needs and schedules of our learners. It also means ensuring that all students work with compassionate and supportive faculty and staff and that they can see their lived experiences in our curriculum. These commitments drive the ways we build support across geographical borders.

Rethinking the Higher Education Process in Brazil

Higher education institutions in Brazil typically use the vestibular exam as an integral part of their admissions process. The vestibular is a standardized test organized by FUVEST (Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular). Students take this multi-day exam their senior year and can sit for this exam only twice a year. Students must select their majors while registering for the exam, and the exam results are used to determine admissions into public and private universities in Brazil. The process is highly competitive. As our students prepare for the vestibular, Mizzou Academy faculty and staff often meet with their Dual Diploma students to encourage them and promote wellness and mental health practices for this stressful event. 

As in the United States, Brazil has both public and private universities. Unlike in the United States, students who are accepted to public universities generally attend for free. Private universities charge varied tuition based on their specific degree programs. Each higher education institution has the right to set their own admissions criteria, and while the vestibular is a standard practice, some universities in Brazil are beginning to consider other criteria instead. 

That is the case with our new collaborator, ESPM. After thoughtful analysis of the Mizzou Academy Dual Diploma program, ESPM determined that by completing our program, students demonstrate academic excellence, rigor, and communication skills that make the vestibular unnecessary. ESPM believes that Mizzou Academy’s pedagogical alignment with their higher education institution prepares graduates for success. Therefore, ESPM has opened up 32 spots specifically for Mizzou Academy graduates! 

To quality for this streamlined admissions process, Mizzou Academy Dual Diploma graduates must:  

• successfully complete at least 10 courses with Mizzou Academy. 
• maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher in their Mizzou Academy courses.
• submit a one to three-minute video in Portuguese explaining why they are interested in ESPM.

These requirements are in lieu of the vestibular exams. Additional information about admissions and enrollment is available on the ESPM website. 

Pedagogical Alignment—Authentic Learning

During the signing ceremony, Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver, Executive Director of Mizzou Academy, and Fernando Cesário, Executive Director of Marketing at ESPM, talked at length about the  pedagogical values the two institutions share around inquiry-based and authentic learning opportunities for students. 

Cesário said, “This moment demonstrates a meeting of two institutions that have a very similar view on how to develop and support their students and, obviously, in terms of research capacity, knowledge generation, and studies that are important for the job market.”

Jane de Freitas Mündel, Executive Manager of Marketing and Market Intelligence at ESPM, was responsible for initiating this collaboration. She and Bruno Henrique de Araujo, Innovation and International Academic Process Manager for ESPM, took our Mizzou Academy representatives on a campus tour, where they saw firsthand the authentic learning experiences students have across marketing, advertising, technology, and video and radio production. 

At the signing ceremony, Freitas Mündel shared, “A big step has been taken, and we are very happy with the recognition and trust placed in us by Mizzou Academy. Welcoming their students for a journey in higher education, focused on future leadership and market transformation, legitimizes our deep commitment to academic and professional excellence.”

“It is a great joy to be able to offer our students this opportunity to enter a prestigious university like ESPM,” added Renata Vaccari, Director of Operations for Mizzou Academy in Brazil. Vaccari was instrumental in working with Freitas Mündel on the initial conversations for this project. “We hope that this partnership will bring many more fruitful relationships between the two institutions, which align so well in terms of work philosophy and care for our students.” 

Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver expressed her appreciation to ESPM “for this collaboration and for such a wonderful visit to your campus!” She shared that she is “thrilled to work together to create new opportunities for our Mizzou Academy students. Cheers to the beginning of this important new relationship focused on expanding access and bridging K-12 and higher education learning.” 

There was an enthusiastic and celebratory spirit at the meeting as representatives from the two schools brainstormed additional ideas to further expand access for young students, even beyond their specific student populations. They plan to meet soon to discuss these ideas. In the meantime, everyone looks forward to celebrating our Mizzou Academy high school graduates and tracking their success through ESPM. 

From left to right: Bruno Henrique de Araujo – Innovation and International Academic Process Manager for ESPM; Michele Correa Lima – Manager of International Exchanges and Partnerships for ESPM; Jane de Freitas Mündel – Executive Manager of Marketing and Market Intelligence for ESPM; Fernando Cesário – Executive Director of Marketing for ESPM; Renata Vaccari – Director of Operations for Mizzou Academy in Brazil; Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver – Executive Director of Mizzou Academy; and Stephanie Walter – Director of Teaching and Learning for Mizzou Academy