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On the 30th of November, at 2:30pm, Portucalense University hosts the Conference of the Castle under the theme “Nuclear Proliferation: challenges to European security”, in the 201st auditorium.

Video Pedro Rodrigues, Researcher at Portucalense Institute for Human Development, presents the project “VisEnLearn” which aims to “explore the influence of (ir)relevant visual environments on the learning of school children”. School-age children are continuously exposed to classrooms with several visual elements, such as drawings, maps and graphs, placed on the wall, which aim to stimulate learning. In this context, the central question of this line of research is: “What is the influence of visual content exposed in the surrounding environment of the classroom on children’s learning gains, specifically when this content is related versus unrelated to the information to be learned? “Exposure to visual materials in the surrounding environment, particularly in school-age children, may compete for cognitive resources, namely attentional, but this is still an assumption that needs scientific evidence, to which this line of research aims to contribute”, says Pedro Rodrigues. The researcher indicates that this line differs from other studies in several aspects, in that, “besides comparing the performance between a non-decorated and a decorated environment, it also manipulates the characteristics of the information presented. In addition, the participants’ learning of the taught information will be tested immediately and one week later”.  “This is an important aspect, since some learning strategies may not have immediate effects, but are rather explained by the testing effect. Finally, our manipulations will be implemented in real classrooms and not in a laboratory, as happened in the work of Fisher and collaborators (2014), or on a platform as in Rodrigues and Pandeirada (2018),” he explains. This line of research could provide important results for educational practices, being a starting point for other new studies to find an ideal point of visual communication in classrooms.

On 18th November, Portucalense University promotes the first international conference “The Future Design of Streets”, in Porto, with the purpose of sharing views on the challenges facing the design of streets and the city. The aim of the conference, which will be held at the headquarters of ANJE, is to discuss the visions of future that respond to the diversity and complexity of urban life, the evolution of mobility solutions and the major environmental issues expressed in the objectives for sustainable development established by the United Nations. The conference will feature interventions from European architects and urban planners with relevant practice in the study and design of streets. The platform ‘the Future Design of Streets’, which is organizing the conference, is coordinated by Daniel Casas Valle (‘Urban Designer and Planner’) and Ivo Oliveira (architect), with the support of the Department of Architecture and Multimedia Gallaecia of Portucalense University, the School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho and the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto.

On 21st October, the Vice-Rectors, Departmental Directors and Research Unit Directors took office. They assumed their functions last February, when they were nominated by the Board of Directors. The Rectory, headed by Fernando Ramos, is composed of António Ferrão Filipe, Vice-Rector for Teaching, and Jorge Leite, Vice-Rector for Research. The Departments are headed by: Mariana Correia (Director of the Department of Architecture and Multimedia Gallaecia), Paulo Morais (Director of the Department of Science and Technology), Manuela Magalhães (Director of the Department of Law), Alexandra Araújo (Director of the Department of Psychology and Education), Shital Jayantilal (Director of the Department of Economics and Management) and Isabel Freitas (Director of the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture). In the sphere of Research, Mariana Correia took on the direction of the CIG – Gallaecia Research Centre, Jorge Leite the INPP – Instituto de Desenvolvimento Humano Portucalense, Wladimir Brito the IJP – Instituto Jurídico Portucalense and Luís Pacheco the REMIT – Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies. At the inauguration ceremony, which took place in the Sala de Atos, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Armando Jorge Carvalho, emphasized “the great responsibility” of the functions, “expecting a cohesive and committed team”. He exhorted the importance of “applying the essential characteristics for those who lead: dedication, availability, loyalty, collaboration, spirit of mutual help and exemplary attitude”.  He reinforced the idea that it is fundamental to understand the present moment as “a new cycle that involves new challenges” and presupposes “maintaining and improving the growth and development that Portucalense University has achieved in recent years”.  He concluded, reaffirming his confidence in the elected representatives: “I believe that with a small effort of all, we will make the University even stronger”.

Joaquim Borges Gouveia, of Energaia, and Paulo Bessa, of Amorim Cork, are the guest speakers.

On September 19th, Portucalense University hosted the new students with a welcome program that included presentations of the Departments, the Academic Services and the Student Centres. In the late afternoon, the Aula Magna was the stage for the Institutional Welcome Session. [Vídeo] “This is the beginning of a university journey that is also intended to be crowned with academic and personal success. An important and demanding stage that requires a lot of dedication, work and discipline. And essentially attitude so that they may build a solid and prosperous future”, Armando Jorge de Carvalho, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said to an audience full of new students and of parents and family members. With a consecutive growth in the number of students, Portucalense University is once again registering an increase in this new academic year: “The sustained growth that we have been achieving over the past five years has allowed us, in terms of the number of students enrolled and registered in the three or four-year degree courses, to see an increase of around 50% and that even in relation to last year, although the process has not yet finished, it can already be deduced that this increase is relevant and of the order of double digits”, revealed Armando Jorge de Carvalho.  “In addition, it is important and very relevant to mention that, in the very first phase, six of the courses of the UPT have sold out vacancies, which gives an extremely positive sign of the quality of education that is practiced in this house”, he added. For Armando Jorge Carvalho, the success translates “the market’s recognition of the work developed in the University by a whole team made up of leaders and collaborators, teachers and employees, who have contributed to the strengthening of the prestige capital acquired by the institution”.  To the new student assumed the commitment of Portucalense University: to contribute to “the excellence of its integral development and its enrichment aimed at human training at the highest level, in its scientific, technical, professional, moral, ethical and cultural dimensions, preparing him conveniently to be an active agent and collaborate for an improvement of global society, through the exercise of a full and responsible citizenship”. In this Welcome Session, Rector Fernando Ramos also focused on the need for students to assume the academic challenges as “unique opportunities” for enrichment, both intellectually and in terms of the development of scientific, technical and behavioural skills”, as they “will be decisive in their future professional life”.  He stressed that “scientific research is, along with teaching, a fundamental pillar of the activity of Portucalense University, because it is through the involvement in projects and research activities that we ensure the permanent updating and scientific enhancement of our teachers”.  In the context of the modernization of the training offer, the Rector said that “the installation of the latest generation of technology to support hybrid teaching” is underway at the University, which represents “the beginning of a new path”.   “This will be the seed for the progressive adoption of more flexible solutions for students, allowing us to take the quality of our training offer further and to more differentiated target audiences”, he concluded. The Welcome Session was also marked by the delivery of the Brandzone – Media Experts Award to the student with the best final average and to the best student of the 1st cycle in Marketing in the 2021-2022 academic year, the Cerejeira Namora, Marinho Falcão Award to the best dissertation of the Master in Law and the scholarships for the Promotion of Quality and Merit of Portucalense University to the students who stood out for their good academic performance. The closing of the ceremony was brightened up with a symbolic performance that brought together the Academic Tuna and the Veteran Tuna. No dia 19 de setembro, a Universidade Portucalense integrou os novos estudantes com um programa de acolhimento que incluiu apresentações dos Departamentos, dos Serviços Académicos e dos Núcleos de Estudantes. Ao final da tarde, a Aula Magna foi o palco da Sessão Institucional de Boas-vindas. [Vídeo] “Este é o começo de um percurso universitário que se pretende também coroado de sucessos académicos e pessoais. Uma etapa importante e exigente que obriga a muita dedicação, trabalho e disciplina. E essencialmente atitude para que possam construir um futuro sólido e próspero”, começou por dizer Armando Jorge de Carvalho, Presidente do Conselho de Administração, à plateia repleta de novos estudantes e de pais e familiares. A crescer consecutivamente no número de estudantes, a Universidade Portucalense volta a registar, neste novo ano letivo, um incremento: “O crescimento sustentado que temos vindo a obter ao longo dos últimos cinco anos, permitiu-nos que, em termos de número de alunos matriculados e inscritos nos três ou quatro anos de licenciatura, se constate um acréscimo da ordem dos 50% e que, mesmo em relação ao ano passado, embora o processo ainda não tenha terminado, já se possa deduzir que esse acréscimo é relevante e da ordem dos dois dígitos”, revelou Armando Jorge de Carvalho.  “Complementarmente, é importante e muito relevante referir que, logo na primeira fase, seis dos cursos da UPT tenham esgotado as vagas, o que dá um sinal extremamente positivo da qualidade do ensino que se pratica nesta casa”, acrescentou. Para Armando Jorge Carvalho, o êxito traduz “o reconhecimento do mercado relativamente ao trabalho desenvolvido na Universidade por toda uma equipa constituída pelos dirigentes e colaboradores, docentes e funcionários, que têm contribuído para o reforço do capital de prestígio adquirido pela instituição”.  Ao novo estudante assumiu o compromisso de a Universidade Portucalense: contribuir para “a excelência do seu desenvolvimento integral e no seu enriquecimento vocacionado para a formação humana ao mais alto nível, nas suas dimensões científica, técnica, profissional, moral, ética e cultural, preparando-o convenientemente para ser agente ativo e colaborar para uma melhoria da sociedade global, através do exercício de uma cidadania plena e responsável”. Nesta Sessão de Boas-Vindas, o Reitor Fernando Ramos também incidiu na necessidade dos estudantes assumirem os desafios académicos como

Portucalense University informs that it will award doctoral scholarships. These scholarships are intended for candidates to the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Counselling and Doctorate in Legal Sciences Tuition fee waiver scholarships will be awarded to the candidates with the best absolute merit in the following criteria: Academic qualifications; Scientific production Professional experience; Motivation letter. The 3rd phase of applications for Doctorates takes place between 11 and 21 October.

Mariana Correia, Director and Researcher of the Research Centre Gallaecia – CIG, is part of the European project VERSUS+ “Heritage for People” which aims to share the lessons of vernacular architecture and explore new ways of applying these principles to contemporary sustainable architecture.

Professors and researchers Jorge Marques, Helena Albuquerque and Makhabbat Ramazanova participated in the I National Conference in Paraguay and III Training in person of the Project “INNOVA – Promoting Research Management at Higher Education Institutions in Bolivia and Paraguay”, which took place between 29 August and 3 September, at the National University of Asunción, in Paraguay.

The training, carried out in partnership with the Portuguese Freight Forwarders Association, takes place online and post-labor hours.