InterNews

Within the scope of the NutriSEA Project (Erasmus+ Capacity Building for Higher Education), U.Porto hosted from 27^th to 31^st of March the second training sessions on Internationalisation and Pedagogics.

The former was targeted at 10 staff members from the International Office of six different Higher Education Institutions from Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. It included training in several relevant topics such as international projects’ financial management, local management of international cooperation activities, institutional agreements for the development of cooperation, modernization and innovation using digital tools, among others.

The latter was targeted at six academic staff members of six Higher Education Institutions from the same countries and counted with the collaboration of several internal and also external trainers. The agenda included sessions such as “Building multiple-choice questions – Basic principles”, “Educational Technologies, Google Classroom and other platforms”, “Quality assessment of multiple choice exams”, “Teaching strategies for large classes”, among others.

This was also the opportunity for the NutriSEA participants to network with Higher Education Institutions’ representatives from all over the world, as the trainings were held simultaneously with one further edition of the U.Porto InterWeek.

The NutriSEA project aims to build human resources capacity to ensure a sustainable food value chain model based on entrepreneurship and creating added value to the natural resources supporting food production in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar). Furthermore the project aims to enhance university-enterprise cooperation as well as regional and (inter)national cooperation and networking.

The Fulbright Commission organizes information sessions on the Fulbright Program in several Portuguese higher education institutions, open to the entire academic community, to raise awareness of the opportunities that the Fulbright program offers to educational and cultural exchange between Portugal and the United States of America, namely the several scholarships awarded to students, teachers and researchers and the opportunities that are available to the institutions.

In this sense, the University of Porto hosts next 13th December 2016, at 5:30 pm, a session, that will take place in Room 332, the Old Library of the Rectorate, with the following programme:

5.30 pm Welcome speech and introduction to the session theme

5.45 pm Presentation of the Fullbright Programme
               Otília Reis – Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission
               Ricardo Sequeira – Educational Adviser

6.30 pm Fulbrighter Testimony
              Pilar Abreu e Lima, CEAU, FAUP Researcher/Fulbrighter in the Arizona University 2014/15

6.50 pm Time for debate

7.20 pm Session Closure

The interested can register here.

Together with IRO (International Relations Office), U.Porto's Organic Units have been conducting various Mobility Opportunities Dissemination Sessions on the 3 campuses, in order to present to students different Outgoing mobility opportunities for the upcoming academic year.

To date, IRO has been represented at the Faculties of Economics, Law, Nutrition and Food Sciences, as well as in ICBAS, and the next session will be organized by FADEUP on December 13th, at 15h00.

These sessions have benefited from a great number of students who see in these mobility opportunities the chance to develop academic and personally, and it is with great enthusiasm that the IRO stimulates students' interest in the different destinations and types of mobility available.

This year, the International Relations Office joins the “Solidarity Christmas” initiative promoted by the Volunteers Committee of U.Porto, with the traditional Christmas Get-Together for international students.

This event will take place at Pavilhão Rosa Mota on the 14th of December 2016m at 4pm, and will count with the presence of around 400 participants. Instead of the traditional exchange of gifts, all students were invited to bring a small donation, in the form of food products or a piece of clothing they no longer wear.

This year’s edition of the Christmas Get-Together will also count with the “Christmas Flavours” event, where the students interested in participating will bring a typical dish of their home country for degustation. The winning dishes will receive a prize awarded by the International Relations Office.

The students willing to participate can register here.

The University of Porto holds this week the Cultural Sessions, an initiative promoted to support the preparation of hundreds of students who will participate in international mobility programmes for higher education students in the academic year 2016/17 (2nd semester).

Organized by the International Relations Office of the U.Porto, the initiative takes place between November 21st and 25th, in the building of the Rectorate. 7 sessions will be hosted, led by 8 guest speakers. The speakers are students in mobility at U.Porto, who will assume the role of presenting their country of origin, and also students from U.Porto that have already returned from their mobility period and who will share their experiences in their host countries.

Through this initiative, participants can expose their fears to students who have been in their situation, contributing to the reduction of the initial impact of life in a foreign country.

More than 1,100 students from U.Porto will go on mobility to the four corners of the world to undertake a period of study at partner universities abroad. The Cultural Sessions of this 3rd Edition include the following countries: Italy, Brazil, Czech Republic, Poland, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. The participants will be more than 200 students.

The International Office of the Rectorate of the University of Porto organized, between November 7th and 11th, another edition of the InterWeek, a training week for staff from institutions from all around the world.

With this initiative, the University of Porto opened its doors to its partners and to any foreign university in order to strengthen international cooperation by encouraging the exchange of best practices and experiences.

Representatives with 30 nationalities from several different continents such as Africa, Asia, America and Europe participated in this edition in the framework of Cooperation Agreements and also the Erasmus+ (throught the MOBILE+ Project, coordinated by the U.Porto) and ERASMUS MUNDUS programmes, which allowed a great diversity and multiculturalism of the event.

The agenda of the week ended with the workshop “Working together in a changing world” with the special participation of the speaker Gerry Murray, Founder & CEO of Wide Circle.

Last November 9th, took place in the Rectorate of U.Porto, one more session for the signature of scholarship agreements for outgoing mobility students, organised by the International Relations Office. This was another excellent proof of support of the U.Porto, during which the students had the opportunity to clarify their doubts at a time they are preparing to start an experience out of the country. The session ended with a moment of celebration and networking during the now-traditional International Magusto, which counted with the participation of over 450 people.

This U.Porto International Magusto (Traditional St. Martin's celebration), where  the typical roasted chestnuts couldn't be missing, as well as traditional Portuguese songs and dances of the Academic Music Group of the Faculty of Law of U.Porto and the Group of Ethnography and Folklore of U.Porto (NEFUP), was meant to present the Portuguese traditions of St. Martin's Day to our international students, who are undertaking a mobility period in the U.Porto, in the framework of international mobility programmes, as well as an opportunity for U.Porto students that will go in mobility to meet colleagues from their host countries.

All pictures are available on U.Porto's Facebook.

Following the new call of the Erasmus+ Programme, recently published by the European Commission, the International Relations Office is as usual available to give all the necessary support in the preparation of potential applications to be submitted by U.Porto teachers and staff, in collaboration with partner institutions, both as coordinators or partners.

In this sense, and as the IRO has been done in the last years, we would like to propose 3 Information sessions about funding opportunities within the framework of the Erasmus Programme +, on the following dates:

• Monday, November 21, 2:30pm, Faculty of Sciences (Anfiteatro FC5)
• Wednesday, November 23,  11:00am, Faculty of Medicine (Room 4 in CIM)
• Wednesday, November 23,  2:30pm, Faculty of Pharmacy (Room 4, 1st floor, Ed. 3)

We would like to thank FCUP, FFUP, ICBAS and FMUP their collaboration and availability of spaces.

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