António Guterres, alumnus and former professor of Instituto Superior Técnico, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations this Thursday. The former Portuguese Prime-Minister was considered the best candidate after a long process that included six straw polls held on July 21, August 5, August 29, September 9, September 26 and October 4.

Engineer António Guterres joined Técnico in 1965. In 1971, he graduated from Técnico in Electrical Engineering and became professor at IST teaching Telecommunications and Signal Processing Theory. He began his political career in November 1975.

He was Visiting Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico from 2003-2009, where he lectured Sustainable Development and Innovation curricular units.

Besides his extensive political, professional and academic curriculum, António Guterres was actively involved in different non-governmental organisations, namely the Portuguese Refugee Council in 1991, of which he was a founding member.

During a meeting of IST Alumni Association, engineer António Guterres said that the training acquired at Técnico was very important throughout his life: “We live in a confused world, where the unpredictability of events became the key feature. We must have self-discipline and a strong capacity analysis. Therefore, the mental discipline that I acquired at Técnico is the most important thing that I have”.

Guterres will become the next Secretary-General of the UN when the United Nations General Assembly adopt its resolution appointing Guterres for a five-year term from 1 January 2017. Instituto Superior Técnico sincerely congratulates engineer António Guterres for his election as Secretary-General of the United Nations, which recognises his outstanding dedication to the public cause.