Strategic Projects 2020-22

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Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa is a unique institution in the Portuguese higher education landscape, combining in its four schools and eight research centres skills and resources in the areas of economic, social and human sciences and information and communication technologies.

The crisis caused by Covid 19 and the suspension of much of the economic and social activities, as well as the way Iscte responded to the emergency situation in the first half of 2020, confirmed its robustness and capacity for innovation, and revealed that Iscte has the decisive skills and resources to continue to play a role in the country's development, with particular emphasis on digital transformation.

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Within the framework of the Strategic Plan for 2018-2022, and the document "Development Perspectives of Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa" presented to the Government in March 2019, new objectives were defined and specific projects were designed that are in different stages of development:

Rehabilitation of the IMT building, in Avenida das Forças Armadas, for the installation of the association Iscte Conhecimento e Inovação, a centre of valorisation and technology transfer. This project has received the approval of the CCDR of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and benefits from the financial support of structural funds of 4.8 M euros, corresponding to 40% of the investment. (Dispatch no. 135/2019 - creation of the mission group and appointment of the coordinator);
Creation of student residences, with summer and winter schools, in different municipalities of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, to meet the needs of the demand for this type of accommodation, accessible to low-income students. (Despatch no. 43-B/2019 and Despatch no. 13/2020 - creation of the mission team and appointment of the coordinator):
In the municipality of Odivelas, the course project consists in the restoration of part of the former Odivelas school building (installation of about 240 beds);
The second project, to be launched together with the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in a partnership with IP Património, consists in the construction of university residences in railway stations. In the first phase, with locations in the building of the Santa Apolónia railway station (preliminary studies in progress), in the lands adjacent to the Pragal station (under negotiation with the Almada City Council) and in the lands adjacent to the Portela station in Sintra;
Finally, the construction, from scratch, of a student residence, the Iscte and the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, is under negotiation with the Municipality of Amadora (granting of surface rights).
Development of teaching and training of senior staff for humanitarian action, with the launch of a post-graduate course in this field, with a master's degree course in the process of approval by the A3Es and an international master's programme being prepared in partnership with universities in Cape Verde, Brazil, Mozambique, Colombia, Spain and Greece;
Development of teaching and research in data science, with several first and second cycle courses having been launched, taking advantage of the concentration, in the same university space, of a diversity of disciplinary areas of application, in information sciences such as statistics and social sciences.


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The crisis caused by the Covid 19 pandemic does not call into question or detract from any of the ongoing projects. On the contrary, it makes its development more urgent:

The refurbishment of the building for the Centre for the Appreciation and Transfer of Technologies responds appropriately to the demands of collaborative and interdisciplinary work in the response of research to societal challenges. In addition, the integration of this new building in the Iscte campus, adding about 8,000 m2, significantly improves the conditions for the development of on-site activities and compliance with the rules of physical distance;
With regard to the construction of student residences, the foreseeable changes in the housing market in the city of Lisbon may alleviate the pressure of demand and reduce the urgency to solve the problem of student accommodation. However, the problem is structural and requires sustainable solutions, so it seems prudent to take advantage of the next two years to find solutions that will also meet the need to reduce the density of use of this type of space;
With regard to teaching and research projects in the area of humanitarian action and data science, the crisis has revealed the need to continue the effort to prepare cadres in these two areas, which are indispensable to face this or any other crisis.

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The crisis we are currently experiencing and the paths pointed out for overcoming it have revealed, however, the need to design new projects. The national and European plans that are being prepared, and in the process of being approved, indicate the urgency of the development of projects, on the part of institutions of science and higher education, framed in the objectives of stabilization and economic recovery of the country. Therefore, we have taken the decision to develop the following new projects:

First, a priority project focused on the development of distance learning courses, in which the production of content, synchronous experiences and gamification will be central. Not only to meet the training needs of students and executives, international or national, living elsewhere in the country, needs already felt today, but also to prepare an eventual scenario in which physical distance is still required in the places of classroom teaching, which will make the demand for distance learning a priority. Priority will be given to the supply of courses in Portuguese to meet the existing demand by students from Portuguese-speaking countries, but also to a potential demand by national students. The project is being coordinated by Henrique O'Neil and a first proposal will be presented at the end of August 2020, which will include the identification of training offers and budgetary needs for the creation of a content production laboratory. 

Secondly, the training of young people and adults in applied digital technologies at different levels of qualification has gained a new urgency and relevance taking into account European and national directives and programmes on matters relating to digital transformation. The resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 30/2020, of April 21, which approves the Action Plan for Digital Transformation, confirms the relevance of responding more quickly to the challenge of creating, in Sintra, a school of applied digital technologies with the Iscte brand, in partnership with the City Council of Sintra and an association of companies based in the municipality. The Municipality ceded the land for the installation of the school and a pre-project was presented to the CCDR, with good conditions for its financing to be approved by a European fund. Sintra is the municipality of the country with the youngest population and where school dropouts by young people who have finished high school are very high, justifying the creation of a proximity higher education offer, offering training in the technological areas essential for the digital transformation, from the very beginning of the economic fabric of the municipality, as well as in the spectrum of what we can now call a new normal, economic and social. The project has been developed by Paulo Feliciano and Pedro Sebastião, and a first proposal should be presented by the end of August 2020;


Third, teaching and research in the health area. The Iscte has, nor will it ever have, responsibilities in the initial training of health professionals, such as doctors, nurses, diagnostic or therapeutic technicians, among others. However, its research centers and departmental organic units have resources, capacities, knowledge and skills scattered across different disciplinary areas (psychology, sociology, communication sciences, digital technologies and networks, management, logistics, human resources management, public policies and social service), built around multidisciplinary approaches to health sector problems. which are today essential to solve the problems the country faces. Today, the complexity of public health problems and others calls for the contribution of all disciplines and scientific areas to solve them, with multidisciplinary, multidisciplinary and comprehensive approaches. In the coming years, the trend of concentration of financial resources for teaching and research in health will be reinforced. The Iscte needs, in this field, to affirm a position and gain notoriety, reputation and scale, demonstrating the importance of its resources and competence and, thus, build a strategic positioning. This strategic positioning and the definition of clear objectives, in terms of executive training, postgraduate education, consulting and research, are indispensable conditions for Iscte to participate in the challenges of knowledge and competence development in the health sector in Portugal. Iscte's professors and researchers, committed to the health area, must certainly contribute effectively to the knowledge and development of the sector, see the value of their contribution recognized and be able to benefit from adequate funding. Thus, a mission team is created, coordinated by Luísa Lima and integrated by Elizabeth Reis, Generosa Nascimento, Rita Espanha, Francisco Nunes, Octavian Pastolache, Elsa Pegado and the expert Henrique Martins, with the mission to define and launch initiatives to build the strategic positioning of Iscte in this field;

Fourth, a project to enhance the training of senior executives and managers of the Public Administration and to create a competence center to support the digital transformation of central and local public administration bodies. The crisis has revealed the need to improve and valorize Public Administration staff and to support the processes of dematerialization, telework development and digital technology skills. The Iscte was challenged by the Government to propose, in collaboration with other higher education institutions, a program of valorization and requalification of INA. This project aims to affirm the experience of Iscte in training and education in the areas of public administration and public policies, deepening the framework of relations already existing between the Institute of Public and Social Policies and private, public and social sector institutions. The project, still in its embryonic stage, has been developed by the Rectory and accompanied by Ricardo Paes Mamede;
Finally, a program of technological and administrative modernization of the Iscte. In the field of academic management, the focus will be on the modernization of the Phoenix and the approach to the existing version at the University of Lisbon, as a way to create synergies of collaboration in the development of the tool. It will be necessary, in the scope of this project, to improve the integration of the Fénix with external systems, namely with the document management tool and procedural flows, as well as with the new financial and accounting information system. The program also foresees the implementation of the Erasmus Without Paper initiative, aiming to improve the way students exchange within the European area. It is also planned the development of an application for mobile devices that simplifies community access to the main facets of academic life. An identity and access management platform will be implemented, which in addition to ensuring authenticity of access and making fraud more difficult, will allow with a single login generalized access to all Iscte platforms. The platform will also automatically manage the cycle of a user, providing access to different resources automatically when they enter and leave the institution. The program also foresees a new phase of development of the image change and the Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa brand, including now the complete renewal of the site and the revision of the signage inside and outside the campus. The implementation of the program involves the leaders of several services (Computing and Communications Infrastructures, Teaching Management, Human Resources, Procurement and Heritage, Financial Unit, Information Systems Development Office, Communication Office and also Rui Marinheiro responsible for the implementation of the Erasmus Without Paper initiative).
July 2020


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