Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with the Mackenzie College, one of the first educational institutions in Brazil Engineering. The aim is to analyze how religion, technical knowledge and the North American education model influenced the formation of the Brazilian engineers between the years 1896 and 1927.

Paper long abstract:

The 1890s are a remarkable era in Brazil, in regards to the expansion of education Engineering, once several schools were created in the country during that time with the purpose of training engineers. Foremost among these is the Mackenzie College, denominational institution founded in 1896 with the support of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

Unlike other Brazilian schools of the time, Mackenzie followed the American education model, emphasizing the importance of technical and practical knowledge. Furthermore, an initial study of its history and organization allows us to identify a project of internationalization of knowledge, since the institution was linked to the State University of New York until 1927. This allowed its students to study in the US continuing the course developed in Brazil, and enable them to work as engineers in the country. The sources about the history of the school corroborate this idea, because they reveal the institutional interest in internationalizing the curriculum of their courses, to hire foreign experts to form its faculty and to invest in expertise of its graduates abroad, notably in the United States .

Although research on this school is still in progress, this paper aims to present the Mackenzie College and its proposal for teaching engineering. The aim is to analyze how religion, technical knowledge and the North American education model influenced the training of engineers in Brazil between 1896 and 1927.