Engineering education in South America: perspectives for XXI century

This is a work, which intends to show some aspects of engineering education in South America: the origins, cooperation and education policies, the differences and difficulties of engineering programs integration and the perspectives for the future. It is very important to discuss the Mercosul that plays an important role in the fostering of integration between the four countries of the south cone that are involved in the process, which are Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay; its history, its achievements, the difficulties, the cultural differences and present status. The importance of Mercosul is shown by the efforts of universities from the Iberian Peninsula countries to promote cooperation programs between them and universities from Latin American countries through the engineering organizations of what is called Iberian America. The last meeting of Iberian-American Association of Engineering Education Institutions, the ASIBEI has generated the "Rio de Janeiro Declaration" as a first step for an integration of engineering programs curriculum between universities of both continents and the improvement of projects development in joint venture.