“Engineering for a better Future” was the School of Engineering’s motto for the “VEM 2023 – Come and try Uminho” programme.
Reformed from the old “Best Student” programme, VEM brought together 160 students, selected by secondary schools in the Braga and Viana do Castelo region, with the best grade 11 and 12 averages, 29 of whom chose the School of Engineering for this experience.
The students were interviewed and asked to choose 2 of the following areas: Cities, Energy, Mobility, Health and Well-being or Sustainability, and were then integrated into activities related to these themes at the different EEUM research centres and/or departments.
At the start of this initiative and to welcome these students, members of the EEUM Presidency were present, as well as the Course Directors, for an initial presentation on EEUM’s educational offer. Two alumni, FSUMinho (Formula Student UMinho) and EPIC Júnior – UMinho’s Junior Engineering Company, also took part in this “welcoming committee”.
The main aim of this programme is not only to show the attractiveness of our educational offer, but also to make these students ambassadors for the School of Engineering in their schools. This close contact with EEUM researchers was a unique experience, and only available to this group of students as a merit award.
The School of Engineering wanted to demonstrate the interconnection between areas of knowledge to these pre-university students, and that the subject of study in EEUM’s educational offer is very broad.
The School of Engineering’s VEM 2023 programme also included transversal activities on career management, the importance of soft skills, communicating science and CV writing.
The participants taken in by VEM 2023 are students from the following secondary schools: Amares, Arcozelo, Caldas das Taipas, Caldas de Vizela, Camilo Castelo Branco, Fafe, Francisco de Holanda, Infías, Monção, Padre Benjamim Salgado, Pintor José de Brito, Ponte da Barca, Póvoa de Lanhoso, Santos Simões, Vale D’Este – Viatodos, Vieira de Araújo and Vila Verde.
