International Activities
Focused on its mission of further deepening its internationalisation, Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) annually participates in various international fairs. In order to promote the widespread knowledge of its degrees and services to international students, UCP ensures its presence at fairs in Brazil, China, Mozambique, Luxembourg, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.
In parallel with these student-focused fairs, UCP also annually participates in fairs/conferences targeting higher education institutions to promote partnerships and align its international strategy. UCP has maintained an institutional presence at the following fairs/conferences:
- European Association of International Education (EAIE), in Prague 2014, Glasgow 2015, Liverpool 2016, Seville 2017, Geneva 2018;
- Association of International Educators (NAFSA) in St. Louis 2013, San Diego 2014, Boston 2015, Los Angeles 2017, Philadelphia 2018.
The University is an active member of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, participating and collaborating on a regular basis in its general assemblies and sectorial projects. In 2017, at its Regional Centre of Porto, UCP hosted a meeting of its healthcare sciences working group.
As a member of networks run by institutions seeking to promote development through education and research, UCP is also a regular attendee of meetings and events held by the Association of Portuguese Language Universities — AULP (Cape Verde 2015, Brazil 2017, Angola 2018) and the European University Association — USA (Denmark 2017, Switzerland 2018). In 2017, UCP participated for the first time in the annual meeting of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC) in Malaysia, having been the only Portuguese university in attendance.
Other autonomous activities for dissemination and internationalisation have also been developed. In 2016, UCP staged a road show in the United States (New Bedford, Boston, Providence, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and San José), having advanced with establishing the Católica Alumni USA network and launching a set of grants for Luso-American students, ‘Católica Fellowship for Portuguese-American Students’ within this same context.
In addition to the presence of the University at international events, UCP receives and welcomes to its different campuses representatives from other international universities, whether individually or for international meetings and conferences. In 2017, the University hosted the Annual Meeting of FUCE — the Federation of European Catholic Universities), which brought together around 50 Rectors from 15 different nationalities.
Every year, UCP holds the ‘International Students Day’, an event which rotatively takes place between the University’s four campuses (Lisbon, Porto, Viseu and Braga). This Day aims to provide a unique enviornment of sharing among international students from the perspective of the University at the national level. This simultaneously contributes towards raising the cultural identity of the regions of Portugal hosting UCP campuses.
It is also relevant to mention that the University is a member of the Universities Portugal project. The latter includes all the universities participating on the Rectors Council of Portuguese Universities and endows greater visibility on the teaching and research capacities existing in Portugal.