This year's conference theme, Internationalisation for a multipolar world, is central to Freire's vision for Brazilian international education, which he said was "well placed to be a bridge between different regions in the North and South".
Brazil's universities break barriers to claim a global academic role
"Because of the quality of our education and our connections with Africa and Latin America... We can help to build this new multipolar world," Freire told The PIE News.
He highlighted nearly all large Brazilian research-intensive universities had links in Africa, and that Brazil's strong ties with other BRICS nations and countries across the Lusophone world made it well placed to develop new opportunities for global cooperation.
But this will require "changing the meaning of cooperation", said Freire: "For Brazilian institutions, mobility should be much more than just sending students abroad".
Across the conference, speakers emphasised the waning dominance of the traditional 'big four' study destinations, hailing in a new era of the 'big fourteen'.
This comes as demand for a global education continues to rise, with total international students expected to hit 8.5 million by end of the decade.
And while leaders are eager to capitalise on the moment, Freire said Brazil's "branding problem" meant few outside the region knew about the scale of the country's research-intensive universities or what funding they can provide to international talent.
For Brazilian institutions, mobility should be much more than just sending students abroad José Celso Freire Júnior, FAUBAI
"It's so unusual in the higher education landscape that most [international] students don't know they can study in Brazil free of charge," said Freire: "And on top of that, postgraduate students can receive scholarships from both public and private institutions."
Freire highlighted FAUBAI's increased involvement with international associations such as NAFSA, EIEA and APAIE, where Brazil was working "to show more people that Brazil can be an [education] destination" and tackle the awareness issue.
While language barriers remain a key issue in Brazil's internationalisation strategy, FAUBAI has developed a tool connecting prospective students with Brazilian institutions offering programs and internships in English, German, Spanish and French - which Freire hopes will "open the door" to Brazilian opportunities.
And while relatively few universities have built individual internationalisation strategies, Freire said "things are changing", through national initiatives such as the CAPES program, under which more than 100 institutions must develop a global strategy.
Alongside Brazil's increased global focus, leaders at the conference emphasised the country's commitment to inclusivity - the driving factor in building equitable partnerships abroad while also supporting domestic students at public high schools access Brazilian institutions.
"Mobility should be more sustainable and better connected to wider institutional goals," said Freire, who heads up the internationalisation strategy at UNESP - one of Brazil's largest public universities located in Sao Paolo.
With 99% of UNESP's global strategy funded by federal and state agencies, he emphasised the difficulty of managing budgets. "We have 50,000 students... We cannot talk about inclusion if we are only sending a small number of students abroad," he said.
But Freire highlighted other international opportunities available for institutions to develop, including the co-supervision of researchers, joint research projects and virtual exchange programs.
What's more, he said Brazilians understood the importance of internationalisation at home initiatives - a concept that emerged on several occasions throughout the conference.
