Renewing the training offer is one of the major challenges
Renewing the educational offer, renewing the spirit of mission and opening up as much as possible to the community and the future. These are the main challenges facing the Braga Regional Centre of the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year even though its Faculty of Philosophy was born in the city almost 70 years ago.
The aims were outlined yesterday by Paulo Dias, the institution's president, on the sidelines of the commemoration of UCP Day, which in Braga was marked with a Eucharistic celebration at the Sé Primacial, presided over by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Braga, José Cordeiro.
Speaking to Diário do Minho, Paulo Dias revealed that in the next academic year, starting in September, a new course will open in Data Science and Technology, as a result of the strong investment that the institution is also making in this area.
‘It's a cutting-edge area in which there are many needs and in which the Catholic University can and should contribute,’ noted the official, who took over the presidency of the UCP Braga Regional Centre in November 2024.
The Catholic University of Braga also hopes to get the new Management course approved next year, although it recognises the difficulties involved.
‘This is a little more difficult, but it's something we're also very committed to. We want to be hopeful, to contribute as much as possible with our knowledge to the community of Braga, to the North, to the country and to the world,’ he said, adding that the Catholic University “has had many courses approved and has fulfilled everything that is required of it”.
The Data Science and Technology course, accredited by A3ES - the Higher Education Assessment and Accreditation Agency, will be an e-learning, distance learning course for around 60 students.
In principle, it will be taught in English, in order to reach not only national candidates, but also an international audience.
This reinforcement of the training offer comes at a time when the Catholic University of Braga is making changes to some courses such as Psychology, Social Work and Communication Sciences.
The UCP's Braga Regional Centre has around a thousand students enrolled, spread across the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Theology, which is moving towards becoming a national faculty, with a ‘significant representation’ of Braga, not only because of its history, but also because of the students it attracts and the contribution it makes to the community.
UCP Day was celebrated yesterday under the motto ‘Knowledge as hope’. Paulo Dias said that the motto ‘is very inspiring’ and the message of the UCP Rector herself points in this direction: the University as a pilgrim of hope.
