Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol2-1 > The University of Evora

The University of Évora, originally founded in 1559 as the Jesuit College of the Holy Spirit, was reconstituted in 1973 as the University Institute of Évora, which eventually became the University of Évora in 1979. Located 130 km east of Lisbon, it has about 8,000 students and 500 teaching staff (tenured and non-tenured) and offers 33 undergraduate and 41 postgraduate degrees.

At the present time, the University of Évora is organised in departments that are grouped into schools related to specific domains, such as Arts, Sciences and Technology, Social Sciences and Health. These are responsible for all teaching and other skilled services for the community.

The mission of the University of Évora is to educate students at the highest theoretical and practical levels, and to conduct academic research. To maintain its high position among the universities in Portugal and in Europe, it is imperative that the University of Evora constantly improves the quality of research activity, raises its educational standards, and maximises its efficiency, with the support of academic and administrative staff, and in co-operation with domestic and foreign partners.

To accomplish this mission, the University of Evora has adopted and implemented a set of priorities aiming to:

• Contribute to the realisation of the European Higher Education Area (“Bologna process”), aiming at greater compatibility and comparability of the systems and competitiveness of European higher-education institutions
• Establish centres of excellence in teaching and learning
• Promote the growth, transfer and application of knowledge
• Foster a substantial increase in student and staff mobility
• Develop integrated study programmes of bachelor, master and doctoral level, including the use of distance learning
• Continue the internationalisation of the educational process and research activity
• Intensify academic staff exchange through the promotion of visits to partner universities of the University of Evora and the reception of foreign guests
• Develop co-operation with companies where students will carry out practical placements
• Seek new sources of finance for international activity
• Pursue the further initiatives that are offered by different EC programmes and integrate them into current curricula and processes.

Research and Development is organised in several areas through a network of 14 Research Units, all of them submitted to international evaluation and under the global co-ordination of Institute for Research and Advanced Education (IIFA).

The main goal is to aim all R&D efforts to look forward to direct appliance in society and contributing to its sustainability. For that, research activities are managed on a multi-disciplinary and inter-departmental basis or around specific programmes and projects, in order to take advantage of the synergies and articulations between different areas.

The main R&D areas are: Agronomy and Biodiversity; Geophysics, Environment and Landscaping; Materials and Surface Science; Economics and Management; Computer Sciences and Software Interoperability; Social and Political Sciences, History, History of Art, Science and Cultures; Applied Mathematics; Education; Literature and Elderly Healthcare.

Among over 250 running R&D projects, most are developed within international and national partnerships, with universities, enterprises and public or private research laboratories, and all sponsored by financial programmes like 7th Framework Program, Interreg, Social European Fund, Atlantic Arch Program, and National Science Foundation (Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), as well as private sponsorship from enterprises and foundations. The annual growth rate for external services agreements and third-party contracts is about 20%.

As a knowledge and technology transfer institution, the University of Évora is integrated in several national, European and worldwide technology transfer and innovation networks fostering creation of new high-value start-ups and technology-based spin-off’s and to negotiate licence agreements based on university’s technologies and intellectual property.

For more information, contact:

University of Évora
Largo dos Colegiais, 2
7000-803 Évora
Portugal
Tel: +351 266 740 800
Fax: +351 266 740 804
E-mail: gabreit@uevora.pt
Website: www.uevora.pt