Catholic University of Portugal (CUP) was established in 1967 and it is recognized by the Portuguese State as a free, autonomous university institution of public utility that aims to combine academic excellence and education in human values. It delivers excellence teaching, training and research in several educational areas: Arts, Law, Bioethics, Biotechnology, Psychology, Economics, Health, Theology, among others.

 

Within the Portuguese Higher Education system, the CUP distinguishes itself by the values it upholds and by a worldview open to the future and to intercultural dialogue in a wide range of areas of knowledge - in degree, master`s and doctor`s courses,  diploma courses and lifelong learning. It has several campuses (in Lisbon, Braga, Beiras, Oporto), a student body of nearly 12.000 students, 1.250 teachers and 550 staff members.

The Environmental Studies Group (ESG) is a research and extension services team, based in Oporto. Since 2003 it develops initiatives of education, training, research, networking and consultancy in the areas of participative strategies for sustainability (at local and regional levels) and education for sustainable development.

The Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development of the Porto Metropolitan Area (CRE.Porto), a network accredited by the United Nations University, was established and is being coordinated by this group, since 2008. The ESG also coordinates the regional program “FUTURO – 100.000 trees project in the Porto Metropolitan Area”, a collaboratively designed and implemented project that enrolls 35 regional organizations (schools, companies, NGOs, municipalities, regional offices of the central administration, etc.).

Role of UCP in the project:

• Coordinate the mapping exercise in Portugal and complete the template for data collection.
• Assist in the development of an online platform of resources as well as get familiarised and review the online tool.
• Contribute to the bi-annual newsletters.
• Provide feedback to the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework.
• Contribute to the dissemination and exploitation of the project outputs, outcomes and future network activities.
• Participate and actively contribute to the discussions generated in regional and annual meetings, seminars and conference.

Operational and financial management:

• The project team will coordinate the above administrative and academic project activities.
• Financial administration will be handled by the project team who will liaise internally with the institution’s finance department.