Proposal to convert Porto Polytechnic into a University reaches the government by Friday

The Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP) will send a proposal to the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, “by the end of the week”, for conversion into a university, said this Tuesday the president of the institution that is celebrating 40 years.

“We no longer identify with the guidelines of Polytechnic Education and we understand that we carry out a set of activities (…) that are foreseen at the level of University Higher Education. We meet all the requirements to be a University ”, said Paulo Pereira.

On his birthday, the president of the IPP revealed to Lusa that the proposal is ready, it was unanimously approved on Monday by the General Council of the Polytechnic and should reach the office of Minister Fernando Alexandre “by the end of the week”.

“It will be an added value for the region and for the country, because in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP) we have little provision of University Education in relation to the number of students who attend Higher Education this Tuesday. Only around 40% of students who attend Higher Education have access to public University Higher Education”, analysed the president of the IPP.

The IPP will be the first polytechnic in the country to request the transfer, following the law that allowed the granting of doctoral degrees by that teaching subsystem and the creation of polytechnic universities.

Paulo Pereira argues that it is necessary to increase supply, but “without losing the training matrix, namely the focus on training for employability and the job market”.

“We defend a flexible University that shares the positive aspects of Polytechnic Education and University Education”, he summarized.

Confident that the supervisory authority will approve this proposal, Paulo Pereira stressed that the IPP meets the minimum requirements demanded by the current legal framework for Higher Education Institutions (RJIES), namely in the number of doctorates.

“ Three doctorates are needed . We already have four and it is in perspective and we believe that in the very short term we will have approximately 10”, said the president of an institution attended by around 22 thousand students, in undergraduate, masters and doctorate degrees.

“Nationally, we are the fifth institution in terms of number of students. We have several research centers , and we have a set of requirements that is higher than the average for university institutions,” he added.

Before being approved by the General Council, the idea was subject to internal and external consultation, in a process that began in October.