Castro, Alda Maria Duarte AraújoSilva, Josielle Soares da2020-12-152020-12-152019-12-12SILVA, Josielle Soares da. Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira (UNILAB): uma estratégia de cooperação solidária ou consolidação da internacionalização mercantil?. 2019. 243f. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) - Centro de Educação, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, 2019.https://repositorio.ufrn.br/handle/123456789/31012This thesis aims to analyze the internationalization process of the University of the Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (Unilab). It is based on the assumption that, with Unilab, Brazil seeks to be projected regionally and internationally as an important partner of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries - CPLP based on a foreign policy of the government Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010 ), which sought greater international insertion in Brazil. Thus, it is understood that Unilab is part of a strategy for the development of political and economic relations, with the purpose to consolidating Brazil as an emerging power on the international stage. To carry out this work, the methodological path chosen was the historicaldialectical approach, committed to a critical and transforming vision. As technical procedures, the bibliographic review and semi-structured interviews with Unilab's managers, teachers and students were used. The bibliographic review made it possible to understand the fundamental concepts that guide the analysis of the data collected, such as international cooperation in general and more particularly in Brazil and between him and the members of the CPLP, South-South cooperation and the internationalization of the higher education. The interviews were conducted with the segments that are part of the institutional reality of the university and had as axes: the organization and vision of internationalization on the part of managers and teachers and students, the teaching performance in the context of an international institution and the academic experience of students Brazilians and foreigners. As for Unilab's view of internationalization, under the point of view of managers, it appears that there is no defined institutional understanding of what internationalization is, which leads to a very limited and reductionist view on the subject. From the interviews with the professors, it was possible to verify that there is a lack of understanding by the academic community of the internationalization and integration objectives that the institution proposes, which makes relations in the academic sphere difficult, but there are, among the interviewed professors, clarity of the institution's importance and contribution to knowledge sharing in the context of partnership for development. The interviews with the students revealed difficulties in the integration between foreigners and Brazilians, considering obstacles with the language, in addition to problems with racial discrimination. The research indicates that Brazil, under the government of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, drew a more active role on the international stage as a regional geopolitical power. In the scope of internationalization, Unilab presents in its documents a performance focused on solidarity cooperation, however relations with partner countries may have commercial content within the scope of the Network of Public Institutions of Higher Education - RIPES.Acesso AbertoPolítica educacionalEducação SuperiorInternacionalizaçãoCooperação internacionaldoctoralThesis