Latin America: Government Scholarships as the Driver of Student Mobility and Capacity Building

Latin America is facing a significant skills gap. A reported 37 percent of companies in the region find it difficult to fill job vacancies, particularly for technical positions. One of the major efforts to overcome this skills gap is to provide funding for students in higher education to study abroad through programs such as Brazil’s Scientific Mobility Program (BSMP) and Mexico’s FOBESII (Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation and Research) partnership.

The growth of government scholarship programs in higher education has become one of the driving forces behind international student mobility in recent years. More and more Latin American students, especially those studying STEM fields, have been receiving government scholarships for education abroad, making this region a growing market for international recruitment.

The total number of Brazilian students enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher education has surged by 51 percent since 2011. This has been driven almost entirely by Brazil’s Scientific Mobility Program (BSMP).

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