Liberty represented at one of the largest fairs in Latin America

Liberty University continues to build a strong relationship with Brazil, most recently by participating in the South American nation’s largest Christian evangelical fair, “ExpoCristã,” Sept 24-30.

More than 100,000 attend the fair each year, making it one of the largest in Latin America. This was Liberty’s first time to participate.

A team of four Liberty faculty members, including a Brazilian alumnus, two Brazilian professors from the Center for Worship, and an American from Liberty’s international recruiting department, met with potential students and answered questions about Liberty’s residential and online programs.

Hundreds of people inquired about Liberty and several filled out applications.

The team also delivered presentations to the Brazilian branch of the Association of Christian Schools International (ASCI), which includes 90 different Christian schools throughout the country with more than 30,000 students.

Rubens Marcilio, Jr., director of International Institutional and Business Relationships at Liberty, said in the past 15-20 years the Brazilian evangelical community has increased to 40 percent of the population in the country. Additionally, the economy of the nation has been developing and is playing a more global role.

“A combination of all these factors is why we are hoping to have a closer relationship with Brazil in order to increase the number of students who come to Liberty from there. Then we would hope that they would return to Brazil and make an impact,” Marcilio said. “Our goal is to train Brazilian Champions for Christ.”

Liberty is also making strides in building its relationship with the Brazilian government by applying to participate in the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program. This program is funded by the Brazilian government and provides scholarships to Brazilian undergraduate students in most STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) for one year of study at universities in the United States. Liberty hopes to have a student from the program in the Spring 2013 semester.