Profile of Brazilian Dental Undergraduates who participated of Science Without Borders Program and their perceptions on sandwich course

The Science without Borders (SwB) program was created in 2011 aiming to internationalizing education in Brazil and providing highly qualified training abroad. However, in 2015, it ended the offer of scholarships for undergraduates, which allowed several opportunities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the profile of Dental undergraduate students who participated in the SwB program and their perceptions about this experience. This is an evaluative research developed with students who participated in SwB in the sandwich modality, in which the student continues being enrolled in his university of origin, while studying for period in another institution abroad. Semi structured questionnaire was developed using the GoogleDocs ® digital platform, addressing the sociodemographic and academic profile of participants and aspects related to the organization and operation of the program. From 745 former SwB Dental students, 109 (14.6%) answered the questionnaire. Most of them were female (65.1%), from public institutions (89%), located in the Northeast (34.9%) and Southeast (26.6%), with proficiency in English (82.6%), and intention to become a researcher (51.4%). The fellows indicated that the program's objectives were partially fulfilled (59.63%). They considered themselves more qualified, professionally, due to the sandwich course offered by SwB. However, they pointed out several limitations: lack of organization of development institutions, use of disciplines and control and inspection mechanisms. It was possible to outline the profile of program participants, as well as to characterize the functioning of SwB for Dental students, according to their perceptions.