35 years later professor Rogério Colaço is still fascinated by Técnico. Nowadays, the president’s vision goes well beyond on that of the alumnus, professor and researcher. The Técnico’s capacity to build and increase resilience to better deal with the pandemic is something that makes professor Rogério Colaço very proud, and he stresses that there is a strong will to overcome any damage.

In this interview, which marks Técnico’s 110th anniversary, professor Rogério Colaço talks about the challenges of the present, but does not forget the past, the work, the persistence of the people who mark Técnico’s history. The president shares projects and goals, and above all, recalls the role of Técnico community, always willing to do better.

Técnico accepts thousands of international students annually, offers several double degree programmes, and is part of UNITE !. It can be said that Técnico’s attention is directed towards the world.

We are committed to give our students a high-quality training and research, and we manage to do that with other international partners that are at our level, that are better than us and can bring out the best of us. We became aware of it some decades ago and we have been working on it since then.

At this moment, Técnico is, in fact, a School that has an excellent international reputation, not only in Europe, but also, and increasingly, in the World. A few weeks ago, the Western Michigan University recognised Técnico as the international partner of the year and I think that it says quite a lot about the way we are carrying out our internationalisation process. Naturally, the pandemic has brought a number of new challenges regarding mobility, but it remains one of our strategies, and it has been successful because it has been continuously carried out by the various governing bodies.

Does this strategy affect in any way domestic students?

No, on the contrary. We attract the best national students and I think that this is also a consequence of this international environment that we are building. Families and students see Técnico as an international school and understand this as an asset.

“Building a trusting relationship with our partners is something that Técnico has been doing over many years”

The Técnico Partner Network continues to grow. An increasing number of companies are showing interest in joining the School. Is this mainly due to the talent of Técnico students?

Yes, it is, of course, due to the talent of our students, but if I had to choose a word to justify the companies’ interest in our school, I would say that it really has to do with trust. The interest of our partners, whether they are companies, municipalities, or other higher education institutions, is based on their trust in our capacity and quality. Building a trusting relationship with our partners is something that Técnico has been doing over many years.

40 associate laboratories were approved this year, of which 9 have a link with Técnico research centres. Does this reflect the important role of Técnico in national research, but also the willingness to become one of the best internationally and to attract funding?

About a quarter of all associate laboratories have a link with Técnico research centres. It is a big burden because our School does not represent a quarter of Portuguese Higher Education. This reflects the work capacity and commitment of our researchers to associate with partners and colleagues and to contribute to the development of national research infrastructures.

The Taguspark campus revitalisation is one of the major issues of this governing board. Do you consider that the potential of this campus is being underused? How do you intend to handle this situation?

The Taguspark campus has actually been underused. The construction of the campus started about 25 years ago. The campus has fantastic facilities, 1700 students, but, in a way, they aren’t part of the Oeiras ecosystem. Taguspark has some difficulties in terms of accessibility and urban planning, and within the social, scientific and business ecosystem where it is located.

Last year, we attempted to correct this. A memorandum of understanding was signed with the Oeiras City Hall aiming at the development of the Taguspark campus, which will include a landscape and urban requalification that will start this year. The accessibility will be improved by increasing public transport to Taguspark campus and also by creating bike lanes that will connect Taguspark to Lagoas Park and Paço de Arcos train station.

A master’s degree in Bioengineering and Precision Medicine will start at Taguspark campus in the next academic year. We are also creating a series of initiatives to strengthen the link with the companies. Our goal is to integrate Taguspark campus in the Oeiras ecosystem.

Is the strengthening of teaching activities at Tecnológico e Nuclear Campus (CTN) still a goal of this governing board?

Yes, of course. In the next academic year, CTN will offer a master’s degree in Conservation and Restoration, which also involves other ULisboa schools, namely the Faculty of Fine Arts.

This campus adjoins a 3-hectare of land that belongs to Técnico as well: Quinta dos Remédios, which will allow us to build infrastructures that will benefit Técnico research activities. The construction project has already been sent to Loures City Hall.

“Tailor-made study plans will bring added value to students when entering into the job market”

One of the great news of the next academic year is the new Teaching Model and Pedagogical Practices (MEPP). What can Técnico students expect from this new model?

This new teaching model has been deeply thought for 2 years, involving the various governing bodies. This teaching model allows our students to design their own study plan to a certain extent. Students enrolled in Mechanical Engineering who also like cybersecurity or bioinformatics, can explore these subjects throughout their academic journey. Students can also develop a deeper understanding of Art and Language, at any school of ULisboa, and go beyond Engineering or Natural Sciences.

Students can have a core course of study and a specialisation, and also a training in humanities, arts or social sciences, which we consider to be an experience that enriches those who work in technology.

I am very convinced that, in the coming years, the technological courses will have greater flexibility that allow students to choose, or design, their own study plans, and to complete their training in areas outside the scope of technical-scientific training. Tailor-made study plans will bring added value to students when entering into the job market.

Técnico celebrates its 110th anniversary this month, during which it has managed to establish itself as the Portuguese leading school of Engineering, Science and Technology. What should we expect for the coming years?

This is a difficult question, but I will answer it in the same way as I did when I was asked what was my vision for Técnico, following my candidacy for the presidency of Técnico. I have a dream that Técnico will one day have a Nobel laureate. At this moment, Técnico, as well as any other higher education institution in our country, don’t have a Nobel laureate. Science is very competitive and having a Nobel Prize winner from Técnico requires an investment capacity and the development of innovative ideas that our legal framework still does not allow in its fullness. I hope that 10 years from now we will have these conditions and we will be able to have a Nobel Laureate.

“All institutions face different challenges, and Técnico has all the conditions to overcome them”

Can we expect a more competitive Técnico at various levels?

Yes, we can, at all levels. In fact, Técnico has always been competitive since its creation. The ability to believe that we can always do better is part of our academic culture.

Do you think Alfredo Bensaude would be proud of Técnico?

Técnico was founded in 1911, in very precarious facilities of Instituto Industrial e Comercial de Lisboa. So, first of all, Alfredo Bensaude wanted that Técnico had proper facilities but, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to fulfil his dream. Later on, Duarte Pacheco designed the Alameda Campus, which I think our founder never visited. The second dream of Alfredo Bensaude, which is included in his book “Historical and Pedagogical notes”, was that Técnico had financial sustainability and access to funding that he considered a science and technology school should have. However, this dream is something that I think none of the presidents has seen over these 110 years.

We are, at the moment, a prestigious higher education institution at national and international level. All institutions face different challenges, and Técnico has all the conditions to overcome them. So, and answering the question, yes, I think Alfredo Bensaude would be proud of Técnico.

The last two academic years were marked by the pandemic, which has forced students and educators across all levels of education to rapidly adapt to remote learning. In the case of Técnico, experimental activities are very important, so the challenge was even greater. Did this change negatively affect the quality of education?

The experimental activities are one of our points of concern in students training. It is too early to assess what impact this may have on students training. My hope is that, when we have the chance to return to a more normal training, we have the possibility of recovering everything we have lost. Our priority right now, as we speak, is returning to the lab activities.

That said, I must leave a note of appreciation to all Técnico colleagues who, during the two stages of lockdown, tried to adapt practical experimental teaching to the online format. We were able to implement a series of solutions with a great effort from everyone, professors and students, which in my view has allowed to reduce this impact a little bit.

Técnico community has more than 15 thousand people and yet no COVID-19 outbreaks have been recorded. What explains Técnico’s successful response to the pandemic?

Técnico was the first public higher education institution to make the decision to move to remote learning. After that, we started to prepare the School for the return that would happen in the following weeks, or in the following months.

We started conducting COVID-19 diagnostic tests at the beginning of the first deconfinement, and then, in September, we extended the testing programme to the entire community. Whenever someone tested positive, we monitored and tracked possible chains of infection. The “Técnico Seguro” project started this week [in which we are talking], with the support of the Portuguese Red Cross, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Universidade de Lisboa, through which we plan to conduct about 15 000 rapid tests in the next 3 weeks.

This ability to test and to identify potential chains of infection allowed Técnico to be a safe place during the periods it was open. At a time when there were already relatively high infection rates in the country, Técnico had a very low infection rate – 2% or less. The rapid identification of positive cases allowed us to quickly break any chains of infection and to put people in isolation. In fact, Técnico was a safe place and I am convinced that it will continue to be, thanks to this action plan.

The socioeconomic inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic and the students’ exhaustion from remote learning may cause an increase in school dropout. What strategies have been devised to tackle this problem?

We are working on it. In the last few weeks I had several meetings with student groups on this subject, but I must say that at this moment we don’t have yet an accurate assessment of the economic impacts of the pandemic within families or students’ dropout rate in higher education. In the 2nd and 3rd quarter of 2020, we noticed a delay of tuition fees payment compared to some similar periods, but this delay was recovered at the end of the year. On the other hand, two semesters were almost entirely remote, which had a positive impact on household budgets, once it reduced the costs of travel, accommodation, etc. So, for now it is difficult to estimate the real need for support.

I worked together with our students and governing bodies, and we decided to appoint a small working group, which included students and professors, to do a more in-depth analysis of the pandemic effect, which will probably start to be particularly noticeable in the next academic year. We have to be prepared for this and we have discussed with students the possibility of having social emergency grants, but we still don’t know how many grants will be needed.

“The Técnico community acted in an exemplary manner”

What was your biggest challenge as Técnico president?

The pandemic was undoubtedly the greatest challenge. I was immediately surprised by the country’s cohesion. Right now, people may not be fully aware of what happened, but later on it will probably become clearer how we managed to overcome this situation. I was not surprised that institutions, public administration, companies and research centres have worked together towards the same goal. Our situation would be terribly worse without high-quality R&D institutions.

The Técnico community acted in an exemplary manner. Not only the professors, who suddenly adapted their classes and teaching methods to the pandemic situation, but also the students, who understood the situation and arranged alternative study methods. The technical and administrative staff have worked tirelessly and started working remotely successfully. The mobilisation of our community members allowed these difficulties to be overcome. Thousands of COVID-19 test kits were produced at Técnico by our students, who voluntarily came to Técnico between their classes. We have every reason to be proud of our community.

Note: The interview took place a few weeks before the publication date.