University of Porto (www.up.pt)

The University infrastructures are located in three different areas (“pólos”), including 15 schools, university halls of residence and sports facilities. The University of Porto carries out high quality research in all fields of study and has close to 70 research units. Presently about 29,000 students (of which more than 6,500 at post-graduate level) study at the 15 schools. The University employs more than 2,000 teachers (more than 70% hold a PhD) and 1,200 technical and administrative staff. The University of Porto is the largest university of Portugal and an institution of international reference that aims at being recognized as one of the 100 best in the world in 2011. Partnerships between the University of Porto and industry have already resulted in several successful products on national and international markets. The innovation produced by the University of Porto has also led to the startup of several new businesses. The institution is responsible for 31 patents, 21 of which were recorded during the three-year period from 2005 to 2007. The University of Porto dominates the portuguese scientific production, and is internationally recognised in various fields of research. Over 22% of the scientific articles produced each year in Portugal come from research units within the University of Porto. Nearly half of these were classified as "Excellent" or "Very Good" by the latest independent evaluations.

Faculty of Engineering (www.fe.up.pt)

Excellence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Qualities that make the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) a school of reference in Portugal and abroad. Working closely with several institutions of reference such as ESA, IBM, Microsoft and CERN, as well as research universities such as the MIT, the UT-Austin or the CMU, FEUP dedicates strong attention to the Bologna process. Therefore, FEUP has renovated its educational programmes accordingly, taking into account positions of many stakeholders in Portugal and abroad.

FEUP is divided into 9 departments, which reflect the major areas of academic study and their objectives and scientific research methods. Presently about 6,500 students (of which about 1,000 at post-graduate level) study at the 9 departments. FEUP has more than 450 teachers (more than 70% hold a PhD) and 320 technical and administrative staff.

Department of Civil Engineering (www.fe.up.pt/dec)

The Department of Civil Engineering is responsible for the Civil Engineering Degree and post-graduate courses in Building Construction, Materials and Structures of Civil Engineering, Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulics and Water Resources, Roads, Transportation and Transports, Environment Planning and Urban Project. The R&D activities are centered in 4 Research Units and the activities of interface with external organisations and industry are developed through its 13 laboratories and 3 autonomous institutes.