The outbreak of Zika virus in Latin America in the period 2015–2016 has caused a sudden increase in the number of severe manifestations and reports of congenital changes in newborns in Brazil. This is the first study that evaluated and compared the growth and cognitive and motor development of children with microcephaly due to Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome (CZS) in relation to typical children. It was an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study with 8 children with CZS and 16 typical children, with a mean age of 20.5 months (±2.1), in a region of northeastern Brazil. Considering the mean, children with CZS presented extremely low performance in the motor domain and in the cognitive development domain, whereas typical children presented average performance in the cognitive and motor development domains. Children with CZS presented a mean growth rate (head circumference and weight) lower than typical children. Therefore, children with CZS are at risk for growth retardation and development compared to typical children.

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The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shaped higher education and seen the distinct rise of e-learning as a compulsory element of the modern educational landscape. Accordingly, this study highlights the factors which have influenced how students perceive their academic performance during this emergency changeover to e-learning. The empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 10,092 higher education students from 10 countries across 4 continents during the pandemic’s first wave through an online survey. A structural equation model revealed the quality of e-learning was mainly derived from service quality, the teacher’s active role in the process of online education, and the overall system quality, while the students’ digital competencies and online interactions with their colleagues and teachers were considered to be slightly less important factors. The impact of e-learning quality on the students’ performance was strongly mediated by their satisfaction with e-learning. In general, the model gave quite consistent results across countries, gender, study fields, and levels of study. The findings provide a basis for policy recommendations to support decision-makers incorporate e-learning issues in the current and any new similar circumstances.

A imigração brasileira voltou a ter visibilidade nas discussões sobre migração em Portugal, o que se evidencia no número de matérias sobre o tema em jornais e revistas. O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar como esse “novo” momento da imigração brasileira para Portugal tem sido representado na mídia portuguesa no primeiro semestre do ano de 2017. Mais ainda, almeja refletir sobre o que as mudanças desse fluxo revelam. Metodologicamente recorre a uma análise qualitativa com base na análise crítica do discurso (ACD) de uma seleção de matérias veiculadas pela comunicação social portuguesa. Conclui-se que no momento atual a imigração brasileira tem sido representada de uma forma mais positiva, dando visibilidade de forma seletiva aos casos de sucesso como os investidores e as famílias de classe média e alta. No entanto, descura-se que os fluxos são ainda mais diversos, e que esta diversidade sugere o início de uma terceira vaga migratória brasileira para Portugal.

Corporeal travel has been highly problematized during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to the curtailment of many previously taken-for-granted mobilities. This includes the circulation of international students; individuals undertaking short duration credit mobility exchanges alongside those who have migrated for an entire degree course. The objective of this article is to look at how the pandemic has affected credit and degree mobility students from inside and outside Europe, focusing on the example of Portugal during the lockdown of Spring 2020.Using evidence from qualitative interviews, we illustrate the unfolding impact of the pandemic on the lives and learning habits of these students, showing how the international learning experience changed from being a relatively positive and carefree experience to one characterized by risk and uncertainty. This apparent inversion extends to a potential devaluation of their mobility capital, somewhat undermining the raison d'être of much student 2 mobility. In conclusion, we argue that whether temporary or permanent, during the pandemic we have witnessed a turn towards immobility in tertiary education, and perhaps in the broader field of mobilities, creating an imperative to open up debate on the impact of the limitations that affect student mobilities.

This article looks at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international students, focusing on Portuguese-speaking African and Brazilian students during the lockdown of spring 2020. Using evidence from interviews conducted with 27 students domiciled in Portugal, we illustrate some of the challenges faced by students when coping with the pandemic, including difficulties in meeting the cost of tertiary education and the centrality of working to sustain their stays abroad, alongside the emotional impact of prolonged domestic confinement and separation from families. We also consider the paradoxes of online teaching, which have made visible the digital gap between local and international Global South students in the context of their stays. In this sense, pre-existing inequalities are more at the centre of students’ concerns than new issues raised by COVID-19, a pandemic that served to reveal former injustice in the context of global capitalism. In our conclusion, we argue that there is a need for greater recognition of the vulnerabilities facing certain African and Brazilian students at Global North universities in the context of contemporary neo-liberalism, including their dependence upon precarious work. Policy responses include the need for a more serious involvement and responsibility by both home and host higher education institutions in the lives of their students abroad.

This article looks at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic among international students in Portugal, focusing on their experiences during the Spring 2020 lockdown. Discussion begins with an outline of the research context, and recognition of the inherent precarity of much international student life. Our research questions hence look not only at the immediate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on internationalized learning but also the heightening of pre-existing economic vulnerability among many of our research subjects. Using evidence taken from 27 interviews, we document their experiences, including the challenge of maintaining communications and coping with social isolation, and look at how the pandemic has undermined the financial integrity of international studentship. In conclusion, we argue that in addition to widespread stress and anxiety the pandemic has created additional forms of precarity for this cohort, creating a need to integrate better support measures into the governance of mobility at tertiary education level.

Pode-se definir a mobilidade científica como o deslocamento geográfico de curta ou larga duração de acadêmicos/as ecientistas por instituições internacionais como objetivo de desempenhar atividade de pesquisa ou docência,inserido em algum programa formalou realizado de maneira independente. A partir de uma análise crítica do fenômeno é possível questionar as dinâmicas de poder que afetam de maneira desigual alguns grupos. Como escopo de contribuir para a democratização da ciência, esteartigo, pautado nas teorias da interseccionalidade, questiona como marcadores de diferenças (gênero, raça e classe) moldama experiência de acadêmicas e cientistas mulheres. Metodologicamente, recorre a uma análise aprofundada da narrativa de duas acadêmicas não portuguesas que realizam suas atividades em Portugal.