PORTUGAL
Hosting Country
Portugal is a country on the Iberian Peninsula, located in south-western Europe. It is the western most country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal.
The land within the borders of today's Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times.
Some of the earliest civilizations include Lusitanians and Celtic societies. Incorporation into the Roman Republic dominions took place in the 2nd century BC. The region was ruled and colonized by Germanic peoples from the 5th to the 8th century. The Muslim Moors arrived in the early 8th century and conquered the Christian Germanic kingdoms, eventually occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. In the early 1100s, during the Christian Reconquista, Portugal appeared as a kingdom independent of its neighbor, the Kingdom of León and Galicia. In a little over a century, in 1249, Portugal would establish almost its entire modern-day borders by conquering territory from the Moors.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, with a global empire that included possessions in Africa, Asia and South America, Portugal was one of the world's major economic, political, and cultural powers. After the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution coup d'état in 1974, the ruling regime was deposed in Lisbon and the country handed over its last overseas provinces in Africa.
Portugal is a developed country, has a high Human Development Index and is among the world's 20 highest rated countries in terms of quality of life, although having the lowest GDP per capita of Western European countries. It is a member of the European Union (since 1986) and the United Nations (since 1955); as well as a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), and the European Union's Eurozone. Portugal is also a Schengen state.
According to the Global Peace Index, Portugal isamong the top ten most peaceful countries in the world.
AVEIRO
Hosting City
Aveiro, commonly known as "Portuguese Venice", is a Portuguese city in the North of Portugal, with around 55 thousand inhabitants. This beautiful and historic city is located about 55 km northwest of Coimbra and about 70 km south of Porto. It is the main city of the sub-region of Baixo Vouga, which has 390 840 inhabitants, making it the most populous sub-region of the Central region. It is also an important urban, university and tourist centre, and it is served by a port and railway system branches.
Aveiro is a city full of history. Sought out for its beauty, it is a well-known tourist spot in central Portugal, not only for its natural landscapes but also for its historical monuments, such as churches, chapels and even the Aveiro Museum, which highlights the Baroque and Mannerist artistic styles.
The city offers a wide range of gastronomic temptations. Given its coastal location, there is a growing demand for dishes such as eel stew, mussel kebabs and fish stews.
However, when you go deeper in the region, you can also find the typical roast veal and the famous leitao a Bairrada.
If you have a sweet tooth, you can also find the wellknown ovos-moles, raivas, castanhas de ovos and the well-known bolachas americanas and tripas de Aveiro.
These and many other factors allow Aveiro to be a region in steady economic growth, managing to combine the heritage of the past with today’s demands. Along with the University of Aveiro, the city on a path towards sustainable development that will guarantee its future.
UNIVERSITY OF AVEIRO
Hosting University
The University of Aveiro (UA) was founded in 1973 and paved the way in the creation of teaching offers in several knowledge fields. Today, UA is widely recognised as one of the most innovative universities in Portugal, the quality of its teaching and research and for its cooperation with regional and national business.
Its organisation and matrix structure, encompassing University and Polytechnic subsystems, stimulates knowledge exchange and cross-contamination between knowledge fields, promoting a useful proximity between teaching and research, which results in a very appealing message for national and international students.
With a modern and prestigious architecture, UA occupies top positions in the most important international rankings that assess Higher Education institutions.
