After the results of the 2nd call of the National Competition for Access to Higher Education were announced, on 17 and 18 September Instituto Superior Técnico welcomed the new students who joined more than 1,600 who had been welcome in the meantime. The meeting point was the Main Building at Alameda campus. Here, the students met their mentors, and colleagues from more advanced years, responsible for integrating them into the school. The groups visited the campus, getting to know the various spaces where they will have classes, the laboratories and some of the leisure and sports areas.
Back to the Main Building’s atrium, at the end of the campus tour, Rafael Dias shares his excitement about starting the Undergraduate Programme in Computer Science and Engineering. Getting into Técnico gave him a ‘sense of fulfilment’ as ‘he was told it was the best school’. ‘I’ve already spent a lot of my life studying,’ he confessed with smiling, ’so I want to balance studying and social life.’ He anticipates that the course ‘will be difficult’, which excites him. ‘For the first time, I’m studying what I want and I feel motivated.’
According to António Fonseca, who is now starting his Undergraduate Programme in Chemical Engineering, ‘it’s been a goal of mine for some time’ to enter Técnico. ‘I was happy when I heard I’d got into Técnico; I’m interested in Chemical Engineering because I’ve always liked laboratory experimentation,’ he shares stressing that he’s looking forward to adapting to a ‘new routine’, making friends and ‘absorbing as much knowledge as I can here at Técnico’.
Maria Fernandes was the mentor who guided the group and cleared up their initial doubts about accessing the school’s internet and the materials needed for practical classes. She is currently in her second year of the Undergraduate Programme in Biological Engineering, and emphasised the importance of mentors in her journey when she entered Técnico, as she came from Portalegre. ‘I felt a bit lost’ in the beginning, and her mentors proved to be ‘essential for [her] academic development’, she says. In this sense, she felt motivated to be able to help – ‘I want to be for my mentees what my mentors were for me’.
The Taguspark campus will welcome its students on 18 and 19 September.
More information: First Steps at Técnico I Student Guide
Welcome Week daily news (students who were placed in the first call):
- First day – Técnico welcomes new students on the first day of Welcome Week
- Second day – New students arrive at Taguspark campus searching for Técnico’s “prestige”
- Third day – New students “root for Técnico” at Welcome Week
- Fourth day – Students’ organisations and socialising during Welcome Week – because “Técnico isn’t just about going to classes”
- Fifth day – Newcomers and hosts: new beginnings on the last day of Técnico Welcome Week
