The course on Topics in Surgical Sciences of the Postgraduate Program in Surgical Sciences SMS - Unicamp hosted two international guests this semester. This course has been offered entirely in English since 2018, and has always included the participation of professors from international institutions. The main purpose of this course is internationalization. It encourages students to improve their academic English while at the same time opening opportunities for foreign students to become interested in and to apply to the Program.

On November 11th, Prof. Azucena Salas, who is professor of Immunology at the University of Barcelona, Spain, gave a lecture on “Scientific research article – How do I write?”. On November 24th, Dr. Naiara Beraza, researcher and coordinator of a research group at the Quadram Institute, in Norwich, England, also dealt with academic writing in English with a class intitled “Tips on writing academic English – How do I write?”. The online sessions were hosted by Prof. Raquel Franco Leal, coordinator of the Course, and by Prof. Gustavo Pereira Fraga, coordinator of the Office of International Relations at SMS – Unicamp.

The classes were transmitted remotely via the Google Hangouts Meet tool. In spite of the geographical distance, the graduate students showed great interest in the subject and were eager to learn from the two highly experienced professionals, who have authored several publications in high impact scientific journals.

According to Dr. Leal, “It is important to put students in contact with these professionals so that they can acquire information on the subject from different points of view. Academic writing in English is a process and not an end, and skills are acquired over time and with a lot of practice, but it is necessary to guide students in this process.”