Campus and Community

What makes Naval Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (Universidade de Lisboa) the third best in the world?

The classification obtained in the Shanghai Ranking was the best at national level among all scientific areas and all Portuguese universities.

Regarding the Shanghai ranking’s results that place Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (Universidade de Lisboa) among the top 3 in the world, we talked to professors and students to learn more about this scientific area.

According to professor Carlos Guedes Soares, coordinator of the Master programme in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and presidente of the Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), this result is really “flattering”. He also notes that Técnico “ranks higher than many important universities that have large departments of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering”. Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks 1st and Norwegian University of Science and Technology – NTNU ranks 2nd, both having “a faculty body five times larger that the faculty of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at IST”, highlights professor Carlos Guedes Soares. “Besides that, these departments have important experimental equipment that we don’t have, which clearly limits the type and extent of research work”, he adds.

Ângelo Palos Teixeira, professor and researcher, says that this success is due to: “the high level of internationalisation of the research team at the Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC) and the research worl carried out in consortium with international partners; the high number of scientif articles published in the most prestigious magazines and journals, as well as the great capacity of faculty to adapt to new problems in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering”, says the professor of Analysys and Risk Assessment curricular units. “The course was already recognized internationally before this distinction, which has been attracting many students to pursue a MSc or PhD”, points out professor Ângelo Palos Teixeira.

According to Eduard Lotovskyi, a student who decided to pursue a Master course, Shanghai Ranking’s results are due to “the optimism and dedication of our professors”. “We are like a united family where everyone knows each other” and this will influence a collective success.

Ana Catarina Costa, a MSc student, thinks that “even with few adequate infrastructures we have a large and renowned research centre, and this can’t go unnoticed”, says the student.

To keep our pole position in international rankigs “it’s necessary to reinforce the faculty body in this area of knowledge and to provide a minimum of experimental equipment”, recalls professor Carlos Guedes Soares.

In this edition, for the first time, the results were broken down by the different areas of engineering, while in previous editions all areas of engineering were grouped together.

The list of the top 50 universities in this scientific area can be found here.