COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE
TBY talks to Arlindo Oliveira, President of Instituto Superior Técnico, on the education sector.
BIOGRAPHY
Arlindo Oliveira was born in Angola and has lived in Angola, Mozambique, Lisbon, Geneva, and San Francisco. He obtained an MSc degree from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in 1989, and a PhD degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994, both in electrical engineering and computer science.Can you tell us more about your commitment to excellence in fields such as architecture, science, engineering, and technology?
Instituto Superior Técnico was established more than 100 years ago to play a role in knowledge transfer and economic development. We have fulfilled that mission extremely well to become the top engineering school in Portugal and amongst the top 12 engineering schools in Europe and the top 50 in the world. Our challenging teaching process transforms students into highly sought-after professionals. We are also a top R&D institution, with about 700 professors and researchers as permanent staff. Técnico excels in fields like naval engineering, machine learning, and robotics.
How does your research, development, and innovation activities promote a culture of innovation?
We have excellent researchers with international projection. In the last 15 years, we paid a great deal of attention to teaching students about entrepreneurship and technology transfer. We have a clear policy of intellectual property protection and a network of companies that sign long-term agreements with us. This special group of cooperating companies is involved in a number of activities, including R&D and social responsibility.
To what extent do you work with other top universities around the world?
We have numerous exchange programs and a special relationship with 11 other engineering schools in Europe that make up the CLUSTER network of the top engineering schools. These include KTH in Sweden, EPFL in Switzerland, Barcelona Polytechnic, and several others. We also belong to a larger user network called CESAR, with 25 top R&D technical universities.
What are your top priorities for Instituto Técnico in 2019?
We want to strengthen our connections with companies, primary economic agents, and our alumni base. We are launching Técnico Plus, the overarching image for our professional courses. Finally, we want to make Técnico more independent of the state budget and will launch an initiative where we can create an additional source of funding.
COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Focus: Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries
Making an Impact
Established in 1996, the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP) is a mechanism geared at linking and sharing the experience of Lusophone countries. Besides Portugal, this includes Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
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Don’t Mind the Disruption
Having won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, Lisbon hosted the 2018 event. The relevance? Well, the contest began back in 1956 as a showcase not only of song, but of then-nascent live television broadcast technology. Today, Portugal is on the cutting edge of new technological developments.
read articleInterview
João Pedro Soeiro de Matos Fernandes , Minister , Environment and Energy Transition
The Ministry for the Environment and Energy Transition is focusing on decarbonizing the economy, valuing the territory and its habitats, and striving for a more circular use of the country's resources.
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António Braz Costa , General Manager, Portuguese Technological Centre for the Textile & Clothing Industries (CITEVE)
CITEVE has transformed the industry by promoting value addition, adopting the latest technologies, and ensuring the highest standards of environmental sustainability.
read articleFocus: New airport
Right Time to Seize Missed Opportunities
Portugal has seen its air traffic figures increase by as much as 80% in the last five years. As a result, its transportation infrastructure, and Lisbon's airport in particular, cannot cope with the rising numbers. A new airport project that will turn a military base into a commercial airport is now under discussion to bring much-needed relief to air traffic.
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Germano de Sousa , President, Grupo Germano de Sousa
Grupo Germano de Sousa's success can best be summed up by its understanding that science and medicine only really progress when technological development is combined with a deeper respect for human values and professional ethics.
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Isabel Capeloa Gil , Rector, Universidade Católica
Having pioneered the introduction of multiple subject areas to Portugal's tertiary education scene, Universidade Católica is aspiring to establish the country's first private medical school and introduce cutting-edge digital transformation.
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Carlos Guillén Gestoso , President, Escola Universitária de Ciências Empresariais, Saúde, Tecnologias e Engenharia & President, Atlantica University
Atlantica University differentiates through its company-university model and an MBA program in partnership with the University of California, Berkley, among other initiatives, to produce practical theoreticians.
read articleFocus: Public teaching staff
An Age-old Problem
Over a decade of austerity measures combined with an ageing population have seen the average age of the Portuguese public teaching staff progressively climb to one of the highest in the OECD. With frozen salaries, an extended retirement age, and precarious working conditions, today the sector faces one of its biggest challenge yet.
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Pedro Queiroz , General Manager, Federation of the Portuguese Agri-Food Industry (FIPA)
Portugal's economic recovery has seen its F&B sector emerge with annual turnovers of EUR16 billion, thanks to FIPA's undeterred focus on stable policies, excellent nutrition standards, and sustainability.
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