INFORMATIONS

The Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto, with over 3.000 students, offers 13 undergraduate courses, 27 Master’s courses and 8 doctoral courses in the following fields: Archaeology, Information and Communication Sciences, Language Sciences, Romance Languages and Classical Studies, English Studies, German Studies, Philosophy, Geography, History, History of Art, Museology, and Sociology. Within this general framework, courses on offer include more specialized areas, such as International Relations, Translation, Portuguese as a Foreign Language, Comparative Literature, Teacher Training, African Studies, Heritage Studies, Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Planning, and Medieval Studies. Some of these courses are taught jointly with other Faculties of the University of Porto and/or other universities.

Apart from degree programmes, the Faculty also provides a wide range of vocational training courses and continuing education courses (including a range of language programmes covering both European and non-European languages). Most of the vocational training courses are certified by the Portuguese Pedagogical and Scientific Council for In-Service Training and award credits for career development.

Based on an exchange of knowledge and expertise, the courses are designed to encourage the production of scientific knowledge and provide students with the professional skills they will require to enter the labour market and to pursue entrepreneurial endeavours. A number of the master’s courses have a professional training component that includes internships in companies or schools, an excellent opportunity for students to gain experience in a work environment and consequently fulfil their goals of educational excellence. The Master’s programmes in Education (teacher training) are of particular interest, as they provide qualification for teaching in primary and secondary schools.

The Faculty’s teaching staff is highly qualified and almost all of its members hold doctoral degrees. They have a vast scientific output and significant international experience in their research and teaching areas. Both teaching staff and PhD and master’s students are involved in a number of national and international research projects as part of the activities of R&D Units accredited and financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.

The Faculty is also involved in student and teaching staff exchange programmes, namely through cooperation agreements with renowned foreign institutions, particularly with European and Brazilian universities.

The Faculty’s Central Library holds close to 300,000 volumes, which are available in its digital catalogue, and is extensively used by both its students and students from other faculties and universities. It also provides specialised international databases, and readers can consult a wide range of electronic publications and journals. Additionally, the Digital Library provides users with full text access to the Faculty’s publications.