Francisco Carvalho, a Técnico student, holds a small packet of freshly made popcorn, a regular attraction at the Mobility Open Day, whose third edition took place on 19 and 20 November. The event brought together Técnico students interested in finding out more about the various international mobility programmes offered by Técnico, at Taguspark (in the main atrium) and Alameda (in the Main Building) campi.
For those who want to join mobility programmes there are many options to choose from, such as the Erasmus+ programme, blended intensive programmes (BIP), double degree programmes, international internships and the ATHENS programme (which, in the same week, brought dozens of students from foreign universities to Técnico). Mobility programmes for Technical, administrative and teaching staff were showcased.
‘Bringing the community all the information about the international mobility programmes’ – this is how Luís Moreira, coordinator of Técnico’s International Affairs Division (the event organiser), describes the Mobility Open Day. ‘There’s a lot of enthusiasm and desire [on people’s part] to be able to go abroad and to do a mobility programme’, he says.
Fátima Sequeira, a Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate student at Taguspark campus, shows enthusiasm. ‘I’m very interested in the short-term courses and I’m going to see if I can apply in January’, she said. ‘I know that if I were studying at another university, I might not have as many options as here at Técnico, so I feel grateful.’
This year’s edition once again included the Mobility Talks – talk sessions led by students who have already participated in one of these programmes and are now sharing their experiences. Catarina Cristina chats cheerfully with Joana Bonito, who spent the previous semester on Erasmus+ in Aachen, Germany. They are both Engineering Physics master’s students. Catarina will be starting her own Erasmus+ programme at the same university in February next year, so she thinks that the Mobility Open Day ‘was very useful’ and that ‘it was excellent’ having the opportunity to talk to a colleague who has already been through that experience.
Dinis Henriques has also studied abroad and came to the Mobility Open Day to share his experience as part of a partnership with Shanghai Business School. He spent two months studying in the Chinese city. Now, in the final year of his Master’s programme in Engineering and Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, he highly recommends studying abroad – ‘it was excellent, from the moment I set foot there until I got back; these are days I’ll remember forever.’
