Universidade Católica de Portugal (UCP) was created in 1967 in accordance with 1940’s Concordata, between the Portuguese Government and the Santa Sé. The creation of UCP constitutes a milestone in modern Superior Education in Portugal: for the first time, the State was not directly involved nor was responsible for a university. UCP enjoys an elevated degree of autonomy in the creation and functioning of new units, facilities and courses.
Taking advantage of that fact, it has been the pioneer in some aspects of university development in Portugal, for example, Business Management, Food Engineering, Multimedia and Digital Arts. The Universidade Católica Portuguesa constitutes an academic and administrative unit, decentralised in 4 Regional Centres. It is currently composed of 15 basic education and investigation units and 4 equivalent departments; some of the units develop their activities in more than one Regional Centre. It’s a national university located in four regional centres (Braga, Porto, Beiras and Lisboa), as well as in Macao (China), where a University Institute is running.
The Universidade Católica Portuguesa constitutes an academic community that greatly contributes to the defence and development of the human person and their cultural heritage in terms of investigation, education, and the provided services. Education in UCP – that, in 45 years of existence, conceded degrees to over 20.000 students – seeks to combine academic excellence and value creation.