Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre at a glance

The Polytechnics Institute of Portalegre (IPP) is a higher education institution that includes four
Schools, involved in teaching, training, research and other activities in their respective scientific,
pedagogic, technical and artistic scope. It offers the following first cycle courses: Primary
School Teachers, Infant Education, Adult Education, Artistic Education, Socio-Cultural
Intervention, Journalism and Communication, Tourism, Social Work (School of Education);
Administration Assistant, Accounting, Civil Engineering, Communication Design and Graphic
Techniques, Business Management, Electromechanical Engineering, Industrial and Quality
Engineering, Marketing, Informatics Engineering, Bio-Engineering, Renewable Energy
Engineering (School of Technology and Business Studies); Agrarian Engineering and Regional
Development, Horse Production and Management, Landscape Management, Veterinary Nursing
(Agrarian School); Nursing, Dental Hygiene (Health School). IPP also offers specialized training
programmes and Master programmes in similar areas. IPP has about 3,000 students and 250
staff.
International co-operation has long been a strategic objective IPP. It participates in
international mobility and cooperation projects since 1994/95. Up to the present many of the
students from IPP have benefited from the experience of studying abroad under the framework
of SOCRATES/LLP, and many more from other countries have come to study at IPP. A specially
designed International Programme is available to incoming students, which includes Portuguese
Language for Foreigners, and a set of courses in English: Portuguese History and Culture,
Environmental Education, Place, Culture and Society, European Studies. Every year IPP
welcomes teachers from our institutional partners and sends some of its own abroad. IPP has
participated in several other European projects under SOCRATES and LLP, namely, Thematic
Networks, CD, EM, and IP, as partner and/or as coordinator. IPP is a member of the European
Association of Erasmus Coordinators, currently occupying one of its vice-presidencies. It holds
bilateral agreements for the mobility of students, teaching and non-teaching staff with over 50
partners all over Europe and about 20 other cooperation agreements with European, African,
Asian, and American HEI.
IPP is the first Portuguese higher education institution to be awarded the quality certification as
a whole, according to the standard NP EN ISO 9001:2008, by the Portuguese Association for
Certification (APCER). It was also a pioneer in Social Accountability certification, being the first
Portuguese HEI to receive the certificate of compliance with NP 4469-1:2008.
IPP recently created a Research Center which has a multidisciplinary focus, particularly in the
main two research lines; Sustainable Systems in Energy, Agriculture and Environment; and
Social Intervention, Education and Health Studies.
Also a Language Centre offers tailor-made courses and structured courses in different
languages and for different target groups.