A school may display flags, offer foreign certifications, increase the number of English class hours, and organize international trips. Even so, these initiatives, taken in isolation, do not guarantee that its students will be prepared to understand other perspectives, communicate in different contexts, and respond to complex situations.

On the other hand, it is entirely feasible to imagine an institution that is deeply connected to Brazilian culture and its community, yet capable of opening up real opportunities for its students to learn and operate on the global stage. Why, then, is internationalization still viewed by many administrators as the need to become “less Brazilian”?

The strategic question is not how much of the outside world a school is able to incorporate visually or into its curriculum, but rather what its students become capable of accomplishing in academic and social contexts different from those they are already familiar with.

"Global" isn't an aesthetic—it's a skill

According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), in the PISA 2018 Global Competence Framework, global competence involves examining local, global, and intercultural issues, understanding different perspectives, interacting respectfully, and acting for the collective well-being.

Therefore, global learning is not limited to a single subject, an institutional framework, or occasional trips. It involves the combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values applied to real-world situations.

This perspective changes the way managers evaluate their proposals:

• Instead of just counting English classes: It’s worth analyzing what students are able to produce academically in the language.
• Instead of simply adding up individual projects: We observe how students cope with the expectations of international audiences and unfamiliar contexts.
• Instead of treating internationalization as a mere facade: The movement is analyzed as a structural part of the pedagogical design.

Local identity as a starting point

Preserving a school’s identity and opening it up to the world are not mutually exclusive paths. UNESCO itself, in its publication *Global Citizenship Education: Taking it Local*, emphasizes that global citizenship education must be grounded in local realities. The global does not have to be foreign or “Westernized”; it gains strength when it has deep local roots.

In the Brazilian context, internationalization does not mean downplaying the importance of the mother tongue, neglecting the national curriculum, or replacing the institution’s values. On the contrary: identity is the foundation upon which students encounter others. To understand a different worldview, young people must recognize their own cultural, social, and historical starting point.

Furthermore, many of the goals of a global education are already included in the guidelines of the National Common Core Curriculum (BNCC), which advocates for the development of communication in multiple contexts, empathy, cooperation, flexibility, and autonomy. Internationalization thus emerges to provide new practical settings for the pedagogical goals that schools already have in place.

The challenge of creating experiences that go beyond the traditional system

No single educational system—whether Brazilian, American, or European—can simulate all the dynamics and environments in which students will operate in the future.

Speaking in public to classmates is different from defending an idea to people who do not share the same cultural references. Similarly, taking language exams is not the same as using the language to study a technical subject under the evaluation of a foreign professor.

Studying and working within a second academic system develops essential skills identified by the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, such as analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, and continuous learning—skills that are indispensable in a job market where it is estimated that 39% of current skills will change or become obsolete by 2030.

Complementarity as a Solution in School Management

To meet these demands without disrupting the curriculum or overburdening the internal structure, the solution lies in pedagogical complementarity.

This is the case with the program developed by Academica International Studies (Dual Diploma). Instead of replacing the student’s home school or requiring the complete transfer of a curriculum, the program allows students to complete their Brazilian high school education while simultaneously following the curriculum of an accredited American school (such as Cognia, which is registered with the Florida Department of Education).

The Brazilian educational program remains the foundation of the student’s education, while the Dual Diploma program adds a second academic context—with native-speaking teachers in the U.S., practical use of English, and the development of independence under different demands.

In addition to the educational benefits, this format addresses a recurring management challenge: scale. Since students are integrated into international classes, the educational institution does not need to bear the costs of local implementation or rely on a minimum number of enrolled students. As a result, schools of different sizes and from different regions can offer an international-level experience without compromising their unique character.

Preparing students for the world without losing sight of what truly matters

The most meaningful form of internationalization is not one that seeks to transform an educational institution into something detached from its community, but one that broadens students’ horizons without erasing their roots. The goal is not to import a particular aesthetic, but to create opportunities for students to develop autonomy, communication skills, and the ability to function effectively in any context.

Would you like to learn more about the rationale and complete data behind this study? Link to the Full Article

By: Andréa Pacheco, specialist in Educational Management and Internationalization at Academica Dual Diploma Brasil.

*Content is the sole responsibility of the advertiser.
**This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bett Brasil.

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