Experience in University of Porto, Portugal by Marcelo

Generally, what is University of Porto like?

The University of Porto is a set of different schools (faculties) spread in three different areas of Porto:

• Polo III - south-west area (Campo Alegre): Architecture, Literature and Languages (Letras), Porto Business School and Sciences.
• Polo II - northern area (Hospital São João): Dental Medicine, Educational Sciences, Economics, Engineering, Medicine, Nutrition, Psychology and Sport.
• Polo I - downtown (Baixa): Arts and Design, Law, Pharmacy, Bio-medicine Abel Salazar, Administrative Main Building (Reitoria).

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Other buildings, associations, institutes and research centers also belongs to University of Porto and they are spread among these three areas.

What are the facilities like?

The University of Porto Polo II and III are quite modern so it is expected to find good facilities in there. Some schools as Medicine and Nutrition have new buildings (completed in the last few years) but not all the faculties have new main buildings, such as Economics.

The Polo I may not be as new as others but it is advantageous for students who prefer to study and live right in the downtown.

What are the tutors like?

The ESN team is normally responsible for all erasmus students of University of Porto, and you can find information about it on ESN webpage.

Then, some schools also have their independent volunteer tutors who will help you adapting to this new environment.

Professors and other workers are recruited independently by each school (each school has its own independent management and budget) so it is not easy to refer about patterns regarding the type of professors, their behavior or willingness to help.

Are the lessons easy in University of Porto?

The University of Porto, as a whole as already been considered one of the best universities of the Europe and it is (still? ) the best of Portugal. But each school has its own ranking controlling for the field of study (Ranking by school of Engineering, Economics, Medicine,... ).

You should make your own research to know how well classified is the school you want to get in (as internal student) but, in general, studies are not easy because you're "competing" with very good students that choose Porto and Lisbon as first option.

If you are ERASMUS student it will depend on the school but I guess it won't be as hard as for internal students. The other advantage of being ERASMUS is that University of Porto may allocate you to more than one school if you need.

Example: If you are studying Economics but you need two additional courses of Engineering and one course of Chinese, then University of Porto will allow you to these courses in the schools of Economics, Engineering and Languages.

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Does the University organise activities? If so, what are they like?

The University of Porto does not organize a lot of activities. The few activities are normally related to researches, career and other professional issues. The university of Porto sends usually e-mails with university's newspaper and other articles to keep students aware of every activity.

If you want more social (party? ) and cultural activities, it is normally organized by the Students' Association of each School or by FAP (Academical Federation of Porto) who is responsible to organize big traditional and academical activities for all students' community.

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Do you think there is a good quality of teaching?

Some students have already pointed out that some schools are too theoretical. Indeed it is but it explains why University of Porto is the University of Portugal that produces the highest number of relevant working papers of Portugal, which may be sign of high quality of Human Resources.

Unfortunately the University of Porto "upgrade" has been blocked due to budget restrictions of the government, leading some students and professors to switch to private education sector.

Quality depends on the internal management of each school as well.

Are there any stories you can share?

Summer may be better option than Winter, if you are coming here as ERASMUS student.

Porto is very rainy town between November and April but majority of big memorable activities are organized in the Second (Summer) Semester (you may be able to sunbathe from May).