Decolonising international experiences in public administration undergraduate programs: Challenges and opportunities

The dominance of Global North epistemologies continues to shape Public Administration graduate and undergraduate programs in the Global South. This article examines the decolonizing potential of “South-South Connection”, a mandatory undergraduate field-based course offered at a Brazilian higher education institution. The course enables students to investigate public policy innovations in Latin American countries through a 15-to-18-day immersion, emphasizing horizontal learning and regional cooperation. To assess its long-term educational effects, we conducted in-depth interviews with 40 alumni who took the course between 2015 and 2018. All participants were interviewed at least five years after graduation. Through qualitative analysis, we explored how the course shaped their cultural perspectives, professional trajectories, and understanding of public policy beyond those of the Global North. Findings suggest that the course fosters critical reflection and serves as an initial step toward shifting away from North-centric models. Students acknowledged the legitimacy of Latin American innovations, expanded their regional identity, and engaged in more nuanced, comparative policy analysis. However, structural barriers—including the Global North orientation of faculty training, limited engagement with Southern scholarship, and career incentives linked to Global North institutions—continue to constrain deeper decolonization. This study contributes to debates on decolonizing higher education by demonstrating that reforming Public Administration curricula is a complex and ongoing process. It reinforces the value of immersive field experiences in the Global South as transformative tools for expanding students’ awareness of policy innovations and promoting more inclusive, contextually grounded forms of knowledge.