And there's a much greater feeling of community. Such perceptions have contributed to Jorge Paulo Lemann's esteem for value of higher education, and for the special role that Commerce has played over the past twenty-five years, in educating outstanding Brazilian students. Lemann has also established Fundacao Estudar, an educational foundation that provides support to Brazilians studying abroad, particularly in MBA programs. His philanthropy is making a crucial difference to business students in his country, particularly as the Brazilian government has considerably retrenched on support for higher education owing to hard economic times. Lemann regards education as the biggest issue facing his country.
Education has a much more lasting effect and takes longer to fix.
Everywhere one goes in business and academia there are now Illinois graduates or people who spent time there. I see Illinois as an educational leader in terms of having a relationship with Brazil and Brazilian students, and I look forward to developing other projects with the university.