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UMinho signs Memorandum of Understanding with the Brazilian Aeronautical Technology Institute

School of Engineering will soon extend its educational offer to Aerospace Engineering

The University of Minho and the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), in Brazil, signed, on the 14th october, a Memorandum of Understanding that intends to strengthen the collaboration between the two institutions. With a five-year term, this memorandum provides, inter alia, for the promotion of undergraduate and postgraduate student exchanges, the joint supervision of master’s and doctoral theses, the exchange of staff, teachers and researchers, and the collaboration in the definition and development of curriculum plans for undergraduate and graduate programs.

Pedro Arezes, Dean of the School of Engineering, said in interview that “It is in everyone’s mind that in the future we can have an educational offer that dwells on the aerospace engineering field”, stressing however that the undergraduate and graduate degree will not start immediately. Immediately, the School of Engineering will launch in the beginning of 2020 “a set of short courses” in the field of aeronautical and aerospace engineering, which will take between 30 and 60 hours and will become “disciplines”.

The signature of this generic memorandum was inserted in the Conference “Aerospace Engineering: Future Challenges on Teaching and Research”, an initiative organized by EEUM in partnership with the MIT Portugal and UT Austin Portugal Programs and the Center of Excellence for the Innovation of the Automotive Industry (CEiiA). The opening ceremony was attended by the Vice Rector of University of UMinho for Institutional Development, Ricardo Machado, the Dean of School of Engineering, Pedro Arezes, the MIT Portugal Executive Coordinator, Alexandre Ferreira da Silva, tthe UT Austin Portugal Co-Director, Rui Oliveira and the coordinator of DTx – Collaborative Laboratory in Digital Transformation, António M. Cunha. This was followed by the presentation of ITA, made by the rector of the Brazilian institution, Claudio Alves, and the memorandum of understanding.

During the day, were discussed “Teaching and Research Challenges” and “The Challenges of Companies in the ASD Sector”. The program also featured plenary lectures by R. John Hansman, from MIT AeroAstro, the head of the Space Science and Technology Center of UMass Lowell, Supriya, and the president of the Portuguese Space Agency, Chiara Manfletti.

Rever Evento:
Signing Memorandum of Understanding between EEUM and Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA)
Roundtable #1 – Teaching and Research Challenges
Roundtable #2 – The Challenges of Companies in the ASD Sector
Keynote: Democratisation of Space: S. Chakrabarti, Center for Space Science & Technology, UMass Lowell – EUA

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