Universidade Católica Portuguesa

image

ABOUT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF PORTUGAL

The Catholic University of Portugal, also known as UCP or “Católica”, was the first modern university in the country not to have been founded by the state. It was originally opened as a philosophy faculty in Braga in 1967. Three years later, the university both expanded to the capital Lisbon, where it is now headquartered, and received official status as part of an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Portuguese government.

Since then UCP has grown to include two further bases in Porto and Viseu, and the institution’s 15 faculties are spread out across the four locations. UCP’s autonomy has become less unusual in recent decades as private universities began to be launched in Portugal, but it remains relatively unique as a public, non-state, not-for-profit institution.

In total, around 11,000 students are enrolled at UCP, with over 1,000 teaching staff. The faculties include economics; education sciences; arts and humanities; as well as biosciences and bioengineering. It currently offers 13 undergraduate courses, 18 masters degrees and four PhDs. Universities Nova de Lisbon and UCP have worked together to create full-time and part-time MBA programs, which include a month at MIT’s Sloan School of Management in Boston.

The university is part of the Erasmus+ program and 900 students took part in the program during the 2016/17 academic year, including those sent to foreign universities and those received at UCP. Indeed, half of the student body at UCP is international and 40 per cent of the faculty comes from outside Portugal. The university offers five scholarships to students of Portuguese American descent.

Catholic University

Centro Regional de Braga

image

Why Catholic University

Differentiated Teaching
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) stands out for its education based not only on the values of Christian humanism but also on its capacity for innovation while promoting the integrity and excellence of its research and teaching. This is an inclusive institution which encourages intercultural exchange through fostering openness to the outside world, both via its connections to social and business environ­­ments and the internationalisation of its campuses and the services provided. UCP deploys a highly qualified team of lecturers who draw their taught content upon scientific research and incorporate in the curricular programs and pedagogical methodologies the most recent scientific developments to nurture and develop the critical spirit of students. Classes are taught in relatively small groups, with discussions of relevant topics and the evaluation of knowledge taking place essentially on a face-to-face basis. This enables the UCP to provide personalised accompaniment to all students and contributes towards a uniquely personal academic education within the scope of ethical principles and transversal social competences. This University represents a community that is fully aware of its social responsibilities, with a strong, collaborative and dynamic academic spirit that reflects in the ongoing daily activities and events organised whether by students, their associations or clubs and alongside the projects jointly developed by students, professors and support offices.
Employability
The top levels of education gained at the UCP, coupled with the constant attention the University pays to the evolution of the skills and competences required by the labour market, contribute to the high rates of employability attained by its students. UCP currently has an employment rate of 97.5% (2020) for Undergraduate Degrees and Integrated Masters. Students receive at Católica a continuous and supportive follow-up from the career development offices of their respective Academic Units, with initiatives promoting interactions between students and companies, including job fairs, employability workshops, on-campus company events, summer internships, among others. In addition to the support of career offices, the Alumni and Mentoring Programs contribute towards learning about the professional world, thereby streamlining inclusion in the labour market. The UCP counts many leading professionals across various private and public institutions, nationally and internationally, among its alumni. The University prides itself on the skills and life projects developed by its students, which ensure they have the highest professional prospects. In fact, the unemployment rate of Católica's undergraduate programs and integrated master's programs is 2.5%, a figure that is well below 3.5% and 3.9%, from the public and private higher education institutions, respectively. Source: Portal Infocursos, database June 2020, unemployed graduates in 2019 in relation to the total of graduates 2014/15 - 2017/18).
Comprehensive Internationalisation
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) has long since nurtured internationalisation, welcoming different cultures and respecting the difference of the approximately 90 student nationalities who attend its study programs. The average percentage of foreign students at the university has been steadily rising, having reached around 17% in 2017. Mobility, through exchange programs with partner universities and international internships, also constitutes an important component for the overall training of its students. UCP now has over 450 cooperation agreements in effect with renowned institutions from all around the world. The extent of UCP’s internationalisation process emerges in the international rankings and levels of accreditation awarded by several international agencies (AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS). Participation in international teaching and research networks, higher education and foreign higher education colleges. Furthermore, UCP runs diverse curricular units, full regular programs and summer courses completely taught in English. The frequent participation in and organisation of scientific and academic events, whether at UCP, in Portugal, or internationally, also reveals the University´s positioning of teaching and research quality that complies with the very highest of international standards.
Rankings and accreditations
Universidade Católica Portuguesa stands out in several areas and indicators in the main international rankings. see more https://www.ucp.pt/

MASTERS

Master in DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Program Description

The internet and the digital environment have introduced mutations in personal, group, organizational and mass communication.

More recently, the so-called Web 2.0 and with it social media and other new technological means of communication have created a new communication paradigm, inexorably bidirectional and marked by participation and interaction. More and more individuals and organizations think, create, represent and communicate reality through innovative digital content.

Consequently, the market needs professionals with communication skills to respond efficiently to an online and constantly changing world, to new forms of information production and management, new ways of acting and interacting, new organizational and business models, new forms of entertainment, new artistic models.

What does this course offer

The Master in Digital Communication at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences responds to the need for training researchers and professionals endowed with the theoretical, technical and practical skills to analyze, build and manage this new communication paradigm and this new digital society.

It offers comprehensive, multidisciplinary and integrated training, which combines a solid theoretical basis with the application of knowledge in the development of professional and research projects in specific and diverse contexts of digital communication and in the media, organizational, educational, recreational and artistic domains.

The Master is aimed at all those who develop or intend to develop innovative digital communication strategies in companies, institutions, media and in the various contexts and challenges of entrepreneurship.

Goals:
  • Reflect on the implications of the Internet and Web 2.0 in the context of new practices and new communication challenges in today’s digital society;
  • Analyze the new paradigm of digital communication from a multidisciplinary perspective (communication sciences, language, cognition, culture, business, design and visual arts);
  • Critically understand the issues, methodologies and strategies of current digital and social media;
  • Develop capacities for creating, planning, managing, distributing and evaluating digital communication in the private and public spheres and in various domains such as traditional and new media, companies, organizations, education, entertainment and the arts;
  • Use the different 2.0 digital technologies and explore their communicational possibilities in business, business, organizational, advertising and marketing, journalistic contexts, such as digital journalism, creative, educational, recreational industries, such as digital games and other entertainment, artistic;
  • Develop a strategic digital communication project, with the possibility of implementing it in a company, start-up, audiovisual production agency, advertising agency, media, design studio, etc.
  • Curricular plan

Master’s in Work and Organizational Psychology

Program Description
What does this course offer?

In accordance with the principles of the Bologna Process, the European Diploma in Psychology (Europsy), as well as the European Network of Organizational and Work Psychologists (ENOP), and the guidelines for the specialty in Work Psychology and Organizations of the Order of Psychologists Portuguese, the second cycle in Work and Organizational Psychology aims to provide students with scientific training in this specific area of ​​Psychology; contribute to the qualification of competent professionals and researchers; to enable them to enter the job market and provide students with theoretical and practical skills that allow them to study, diagnose and intervene in an organizational context.

What is employability?

In the master’s degree in PTO, data collected from graduates in 2016/17 and 2018/19 revealed that none were unemployed on March 1, 2020. 100% of PTO graduates have a work contract or in regular provision of services for the same entity . Most PTO graduates (42.9%) are employed in large companies (more than 250 workers) and all are employed in Braga (100%). The sectors that employed PTO graduates were: commerce/distribution (14.3%), education (14.3%), construction and public works (14.3%) and other activities and services (42.9% ). The sector other activities and services appears as the most expressive sector of PTO graduates.

Structure of the study cycle

The 1st year implies the attendance of five curricular units (UC) in each of the semesters (eg, Advanced Methodologies of Research, Organizational Diagnosis and Intervention, Integrated Planning of Human Resources, Psychosocial Risks, Organizational Behavior). Of the ten CUs that the student attends during the 1st academic year, two are chosen from a range of optional CUs (eg, Health Promotion, Psychological Assessment in the Context of Work and Organizational Psychology, Leadership and Teamwork, Counseling and Career Management).

The 2nd year includes two curricular units: Internship and Dissertation.

The curricular internship takes place in institutions registered with the FFCS, although internship candidates can submit their self-proposals to the coordinating committee. The internship experience is guided by a psychologist at the internship location (internship supervisor) and supervised by a UCP professor (internship supervisor), with these supervisions being carried out weekly.

Some of our internship partner institutions are: Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Braga, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Ponte da Barca, SONAE, O Ferrolho, Rodel, SA, Continental Mabor, Continental ITA, Vila Nova de Famalicão Chamber, Training School Jerome Martins.

At the UC Dissertação students develop their research project integrated into the research lines of the professors, according to the strategic plan of the Center for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies (a research center funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology). The professor supervising the dissertation provides the student with supervision on a weekly basis.

Our professors stand out for a strong investment in the supervision/follow-up of their internship and dissertation students. Student-working students have rules specific to their status.

Professional exits

It allows the registration and completion of the inherent professional internship supervised by the Portuguese Psychologists Association, mandatory for the exercise of the profession. After the professional internship, the professional opportunities of psychologists with training in this area cover organizations from different sectors of the labor market.

Master in Tourism – Tourism Administration and Management

Program Description

The Tourism sector has high dynamism and employability, not only due to the enormous growth it has shown, both in terms of demand and national and international tourist supply, but also due to its high resilience, which allowed the economic and financial crisis to one of the sectors that best responded to it.

The emergence and development of new tourist products, new needs and desires of the new tourist market require highly qualified human resources prepared to respond to an increasingly demanding market.

What does this course offer?

The Master in Tourism at UCP responds to the needs and opportunities for growth and employment in the market, aiming at the professional and research excellence that the market demands. With a specialized teaching staff, the course proposes to offer highly qualified training in the field of tourism administration and management.

The course also benefits from the recognized prestige of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in advanced training, as well as the support and cooperation of prestigious partners linked to the Tourism sector, namely, national associations of Hospitality and Restaurants, Hotel Groups, Tour Operators, multinational ICT companies, institutions in the area of ​​Culture and ANA-Aeroportos.

Goals

The Master’s in Tourism course aims to offer specialized, inter and multidisciplinary training at an advanced level.

Specialization option:Tourism Administration and Management

This branch of specialization has with specific objectives:

  • Provide advanced theoretical-practical knowledge to prepare and enhance senior management, able to carry out administration, management and advisory functions in companies and/or public and private institutions in the Tourism sector;
  • Provide instrumental knowledge in key domains for the exercise of tourist activity;
  • Stimulating entrepreneurship and innovation, providing, in particular, the general framework of public policy instruments and incentive systems focusing on Tourism;
  • Enable the acquisition of advanced training for the development of research and consultancy activities in the field of Tourism.
  • Curricular plan