The University of Minho hosted, from 18 to 22 July, 336 young people from secondary education from all over the country, in the scope of the scientific programme “Verão no Campus” (VnC). The participants came from the districts of Braga, Aveiro, Beja, Bragança, Funchal, Leiria, Lisbon, Porto, Viana do Castelo and Viseu. In the laboratories and in the cities of Braga and Guimarães, they had the support of 33 monitors and more than 50 researchers/teachers from UMinho.

VnC intends to help students from the 10th to the 12th years in the choice of a higher education course, through a deeper knowledge of their vocation area. Within the scope of the proposed activities, it was possible, for instance, to manipulate genomes in plants, build a sculpture, carry out a trial, apply robotics in autonomous navigation, speak several languages, simulate childbirth, experiment with biomaterials, among others. The future university students were also able to get to know the cities where UMinho is located, besides meeting and socialising with colleagues from different regions of the country.

This year marked the 14th edition of an event that has already met more than 4000 young people from four continents, since its first edition, in 2009.

The initiative began on Monday morning, with presentation sessions in each of the schools/institutes that hosted the activities. The closing session took place on Friday 22nd, in the A1 auditorium of the Gualtar campus (Braga), followed by an informal get-together in the Olive trees field.

The School of Engineering Programme involved various departments and research centres that offered the following activities to around 95 students:

– Chemical and Biological Engineering: Engineering at the Service of Society (a programme consisting of various workshops and laboratory activities);

– Biomedical Engineering: Engineering at the Service of Health (a programme consisting of various workshops and laboratory activities);

– Computing Without Borders (programme composed of several workshops);

– Plastics: The Materials of Our Future (programme composed of several activities);

– Industrial Engineering and Management: A Step Forward in Sustainability (programme composed of various activities);

– Tomorrow Needs Engineering: a programme in which the following engineering disciplines were present: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Information Systems Management, Industrial Electronics and Computers, Telecommunications and Computer Science, and Textile, with the aim of clarifying doubts regarding the various areas of engineering, demonstrating their multidisciplinary nature and the importance of each one for a better tomorrow.

The full programme organised by the School of Engineering is available here.