The Técnico Alumni Scholarships award ceremony took place on 25 March, in the Main Building’s meeting room, at Técnico – Alameda campus. In this edition, one scholarship was renewed and four new scholarships were awarded.
‘Not missing out on possibilities for economic reasons,’ was one of the reasons for gratitude highlighted by João Cruz, an undergraduate student in Applied Mathematics and Computation, and mentioned several times by Ana Dias, president of the Técnico Alumni Association (AAAIST).
Inês Godinho (Undergraduate Programme in Biomedical Engineering), Vicente Duarte (Undergraduate Programme in Computer Science and Engineering) and Hugo Pereira (Undergraduate Programme in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Undergraduate Programme in Computer Science and Engineering) and Diogo Santos were also awarded the Alumni Técnico Scholarship, supported by the Técnico Alumni Association and the 72-78 Electrical Engineering students, in the case of the scholarship aimed at an Electrical and Computer Engineering student. According to Ana Dias ‘education is the most effective social elevator’ and, therefore, it is ‘a social crime’ for someone to be prevented from accessing education due to ‘financial difficulties’. This opinion was also shared by Rogério Colaço, the President of Instituto Superior Técnico, who quoting the school’s founder Alfredo Bensaúde, said: ‘How good it would be if Técnico performed like the great American universities’. This idea was previously highlighted by João Pedro Conde, the Head of the Department of Bioengineering, who described how alumni from the American university he attended, contributed financially to support ‘constructions’ and the ‘hiring of professors’, which are essential for the ‘collective success of the institution’.
Also present at the event were the Vice-President of Técnico for Corporate Interface, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Pedro Amaral, the coordinators of the Undergraduate Programme in Computer Science and Engineering, António Leitão and Carlos Martinho, the coordinators of the Undergraduate Programme in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Paulo Correia and Teresa Vazão, the coordinator of the Undergraduate Programme in Applied Mathematics and Computation, Lina Oliveira and João Rasga, Vice-Head of the Department of Mathematics for the Study Cycles.
This scholarship programme is aimed at students from all Técnico courses with academic success and financial need, who are not covered by scholarships from the Universidade de Lisboa’s Social Action Services.
