The objective of the present text is to relate the experience of the Capes/Cofecub accord, based on some basic premises. We begin by situating state-based international cooperation in science and technology within a wider logic of consolidating the university and the scientific community in Brazil. The objective is ambitious, but it must be understood in the context of an article, which means that certain aspects are not always treated with the necessary depth. Next, a personal testament is provided of life as a fellow of the Accord during its initial years, at a special moment in the political life of Brazil, and of the doubts that fill the hearts and minds of the young professors of our then recent programs for graduate study. Our intent is to reveal the importance of international scientific cooperation for the consolidation of our university institutions. The experience of being a foreigner is a privilege, especially for researchers in the social sciences, because it consolidates identities and promotes greater autonomy in the production of knowledge. It guarantees, in ambivalent form, greater distance from that which is produced in other countries and functions as a selective filter for that which is useful and adequate for understanding ourselves, thereby constituting clear evidence of the permanent need for interlocution between peers.