The Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) is a Brazilian think tank and higher education institution founded in 1944, dedicated to promoting Brazil’s economic and social development. At present,FGV is considered the best-managed think tank in the world, the top-ranked in Latin America and the 3rd best in the world (The Global Go To Think Tank Index Report issued by the University of Pennsylvania 2020).

The School of Business Administration (Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo), where the Latam Term is embedded, is one of the ten FGV Schools. FGV EAESP has had a long tradition of preparing leaders for academia, businesses, government, and non-profit organizations, offering business management and public administration undergraduate and graduate programs.

FGV EAESP is a leading research institution in Brazil. The School’s 21 Applied Research Centers couple academia with practice which keeps a constant flow of knowledge between both. FGV EAESP’s leadership position is demonstrated by the renowned quality of its published articles, its doctoral programs, and its numerous local and international collaboration and partnership agreements.

São Paulo has a very active entrepreneurial environment (3 times more businesses than in Switzerland) that also reflects into high dynamism in the start-up and innovation scene. Several Swiss institutions (Swisscam, Swiss Business Hub, Swissnex) are engaged in tapping into these market opportunities and our institute is actively supporting such intersectoral knowledge transfers knowledge transfer, inserting the Latam Term as part of this environment.

The HSG Alumni Club in Brazil is an active network of former HSG students who have chosen the region to become self-starter entrepreneurs or to locally represent some of the most established businesses from Europe. Jointly with our institute, the Club regularly organizes networking events with other renowned international business schools. Many of the social events organized by the Club are open to the HSG Latam Term exchange students. In addition, the Club serves as an excellent contact and entry point to understanding the job market in Latin America; Club members actively serve as part of the Latam Term Buddy System, the Capstone Projects, and eventually offer internship opportunities to HSG students.

Latam Term students are also encouraged to contribute to the local communities through volunteering activities organized in cooperation with local NGOs and international organizations. Activities might range from spending a weekend with Teto and Habitat for Humanity building houses for low-income families, assisting with the logistics of donations and intercultural communication for refugees at the São Paulo Chapter of the Red Cross, producing desktop research for the town hall to advance SDG integration into planning frameworks. More volunteering opportunities are communicated to the students on a rolling basis.

São Paulo is a hub and a doorway for travellers to Latin America. The City (Congonhas) and International (Guarulhos) airports have frequent and rather affordable flights to all Brazilian and Latin American capital cities and many more points of interest. In Brazil, you may also travel by car or by interstate bus. Brazil has amazing natural wonders such as forests, mountains, plateaus, or beaches, and is home to many natural and cultural heritage sites (23 with UNESCO world heritage status). The latest addition is the mixed culture and biodiversity site of Paraty and Ilha Grande, just a few hours by car from São Paulo.

Great opportunities to visit other countries on the continent are Latam Compacts. Such are study trips are organized as additional elective courses that take place during the Spring break period in order to provide unique thematic immersion experiences.  The precise destinations and topics are carefully selected each year, former and upcoming Compacts focused on Social Entrepreneurship in the Brazilian Amazon, Innovation Ecosystem and Smart Cities Santiago de Chile, and Coca, Cacao and Coffee in Colombia’s Projects for Sustainability and Peace.

The Latam Term is much more than an exchange program. It is designed to promote cooperation between excellence in education and the capacity to produce real-world impact. Consulting and volunteering activities are built-in. Furthermore, the semi-structured curriculum of the Term is the perfect balance between core courses and the freedom to choose from a variety of elective topics that connects you to your inner drives and career ambitions. Students who successfully complete the Term will receive a certificate jointly signed by the partner university.

Become a change maker !

The additional advantage of the Latam Term is that the courses embedded in the partner university pass a streamlined crediting process at the HSG ensured and assisted by our institute, guaranteeing that students pursue their academic lives with a minimum of bureaucracy.

A complete list of compulsory, core-elective and free-choice elective courses and their respective credit transfers will be constantly updated on the Latam Term website.

Our institute has a local presence in Sao Paulo and our dedicated team will help you to maximize your term experience. The city, country, and Latin American region have
much to offer in terms of destinations, experiences, and opportunities and we will assist you whenever possible.

Each term student becomes part of a supportive network of like-minded people. We have created a social media group and will invite former term students to regular meetings in St.Gallen.

São Paulo is one of the most diverse cities in the world. It hosts the largest diasporas of Japanese, Italian and Lebanese people whose traditions influence the characteristics of several neighborhoods such as Bixinga for the Italians and Liberdade for the Japanese. There are a plethora of things to do, which should not come as a surprise given that the city has 1.5 times the population of Switzerland. Cultural highlights include the MASP, the Beco do Batman, and the Ibirapuera Park with numerous free attractions.

People interested in gastronomy will be delighted by the local offer. Paulistanos consume more than 1 million pizzas and 400 thousand sushi per day. These blend seamlessly with local specialities such as feijoada, açaí, moquecas (fish stew in clay pots), and churrasco (the world-famous Brazilian BBQ).

São Paulo hosts more than 150 museums and numerous cultural events and festivals. The most famous two are undoubtedly Carnival and the Pride Parade (the largest LGBT street festival in the world) but there is so much more to see and do. 

A term is a unique exchange experience that can easily be combined with a second semester abroad. Latam Term students can apply for an exchange semester, the Asia Term, or organize by themselves a freemover exchange semester in the Fall semester preceeding the Latam Term. Detailed Information about the application process can be found on the HSG Mobility website.