Fifteen 1st-year students in the Mining Engineering and Energy Resources Undergraduate Programme took to the stage in the Great Hall of the Instituto Superior Técnico. These students joined Técnico in the 2024-2025 academic year and, thanks to the Recursos+ scholarship, their tuition fees are being funded by companies in this sector. The award was made official on 4 December during the opening of the 19th Santa Bárbara Seminar Series, organised by members of the Mining Engineering Students’ Organisation at Técnico (NUMIST). The ceremony was attended by the Secretary of State for Energy and Técnico professor, Maria João Pereira.
The ‘financial relief’ is emphasised by many of these scholarship holders, but it’s not the only positive point they note. Bruna Fradique, a student who has received this support, sees it as an ‘important incentive’ and ‘a help with studies and motivation’. ‘They’re investing in us, in our future and in our progress,’ she says. Having Biology and Geology as her favourite subject when she was in secondary school, it was only after learning that she had entered the course that she learned about the existence of the scholarship, a surprise for which she is grateful.
Rodrigo Fonseca, another Recursos+ scholarship holder, entered the undergraduate programme as his sixth choice, but quickly concluded that after all it was the best choice. ‘It’s very gratifying to have been welcomed the way I was and it’s very important to have been welcomed by my classmates and teachers as well as by master’s students,’ he shared. The student sees an advantage in the smaller number of places offered by this course (compared to the rest of the School’s training offer) – ‘we find it easier to stand out and get to know each other better’.
This scholarship was a motivation for Ivan Kolesnikov to choose the Mining Engineering and Energy Resources undergraduate programme, which he hopes will provide him with ‘good working conditions in the future’, just like with ‘several [of his] acquaintances who have taken this course’. Rodrigo Vieira, another student who has benefited from this scholarship, sees it not only as ‘financial help’ but also as ‘a vote of confidence in the students and additional motivation’.
These and other students held up the symbolic cheques for this support for the first time during the 19th Santa Bárbara Seminar Series. The president of Técnico, Rogério Colaço, attended the event and called for a ‘well deserved’ round of applause for the efforts of the Mining Engineering students’ organisation. ‘These events organised by students’ organisations allow Técnico to continue fulfilling its mission for 113 years – I often say that participating in these events contributes to your education just as much as a good course in Differential Calculus’., defended the president.
In her speech later on, the Secretary of State for Energy, Maria João Pereira, emphasised the ‘great need for engineers in our country’ and congratulated Técnico ‘not only for the people who created this initiative and carried it out, but also for believing in this engineering field.
Amélia Dionísio, vice-president of the Department of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineering, thanked the companies that support the Recursos+ scholarship. ‘This contribution is more than financial aid; it’s an investment in the future of young talent and the guarantee of a more innovative, sustainable and competitive sector,’ she said.
Several company representatives, including Almina, Beralt Tin & Wolfram Portugal, Fravizel, Julipedra, Mocapor, Orica Mining Services Portugal and Secil Agregados, attended the event.
