UC Irvine Extension Partners with Fundacao Getulio Vargas of Brazil to Offer Free Online Courses in Portuguese

Business Wire, July 24, 2008

UC Irvine Extension and FGV Present "Ethics in Portuguese" and "Training and Human Resources Development" at No Cost to Learners Worldwide

IRVINE, Calif. & SAO PAULO, Brazil -- UC Irvine Extension, the continuing education arm of the University of California, Irvine, is pleased to announce a joint educational venture with the Fundacao Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV). Through the partnership, FGV - a nonprofit higher education institution and the largest provider of online education in Brazil - has created free online courses, presented in Portuguese, as part of the UC Irvine Extension's OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative. The two new courses, available at no cost online at http://ocw.uci.edu/courses/, include "Ethics in Portuguese" and "Training and Human Resources Development."

"The sharing of free, high-quality courses between two higher education institutions with international reach will benefit students all over the world. Exemplifying the power of the OCW initiative, this partnership enables learners, no matter whom or where they are, to gain access to University-level courses," says Gary W. Matkin, Ph.D., dean of Continuing Education at University of California, Irvine. "Also, since most educational material is shared from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern, this partnership provides us the opportunity to showcase high quality educational content produced in the vibrant countries of South America. The collaboration between UC Irvine Extension and FGV represents one of the first times that an international institution has created content for utilization by the United States - making it an early example of both cultural significance and educational pioneering."

Through the partnership, FGV has shared its successful MBA course, "Ethics in Portuguese," and has also adapted UC Irvine Extension's course, "Training and Human Resources Development." The UC Irvine course has been localized by adding concepts and cases that reflect the business and cultural environment of Brazil.

"Ethics in Portuguese" and "Training and Human Resources Development" are available at http://ocw.uci.edu/courses/. For more information, contact Larry Cooperman at ljcooper@uci.edu.

About UC Irvine's OpenCourseWare Initiative: The University of California, Irvine was the first University of California campus--and West Coast University--to join the OCW Consortium. UC Irvine's membership in the OCW Consortium is consistent with its public and land-grant missions and its desire to play a significant role in contributing to the social welfare of the state, the nation and the world. Open Educational Resources (OER) showcase the University's high quality education and makes courses and course materials free for everyone in the world. UC Irvine's OCW is a large-scale, Web-based resource that houses educational assets that are discoverable, searchable, modifiable, and, best of all, free and easily available. Through the OCW Movement, UC Irvine provides university-quality courses and learning assets to populations of self learners that are underserved and in many cases, unable to participate in formal education at a university. This site also offers access to UC Irvine's online continuing education offerings. For more information about UC Irvine's OCW initiative, visit http://ocw.uci.edu/ or e-mail ocw@unx.uci.edu.

About the University of California, Irvine Extension: As the continuing education arm of UCI, UC Irvine Extension is dedicated to providing a university-level learning experience for students, offering thousands of exciting courses and programs to local, regional, and global constituencies. UC Irvine Extension offers a rich array of academic and community programs to support a diverse audience, from a wide selection of academic programs to numerous campus activities. For more information, please visit www.extension.uci.edu.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 27,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.