The Catholic University of Portugal: a studio for creation
To deal with complex challenges, graduates need a solid grounding in ethics and creativity as much as technical knowledge. The Catholic University of Portugal is set up to deliver just that
Catholic University of Portugal
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The Catholic University of Portugal (Católica) strives to be a “studio for creation”. Isabel Capeloa Gil, Católica’s president, says this very deliberate description encapsulates the purpose of the institution. “We bring together the two streams of study, from the Latin studium, and the artist’s studio – a place where experimentation takes place,” she explains. “We need to have the latitude and flexibility to allow students to be trained in solid methods, rules and disciplines in their fields, but not to be imprisoned by them.”
Within this concept, students embrace failure as well as success, without which Gil argues there would be no creativity, disruption or humanity. Católica is just 60 years old, and Gil acknowledges that more traditional universities can be rigid and disciplined. “Reputation and legacy alone are not a safe conduit for the future,” she says. “Students want a place where they can test and explore in a safe space; where they can test, challenge, question and learn how to make choices.”
In practice, creativity happens in a number of ways. Across Católica’s four campuses and 19 schools there are a series of core interdisciplinary skills that all students learn, regardless of their chosen discipline. These focus on humanistic and ethical values, the new humanities, and algorithmic literacy. “Our core shared curriculum allows undergraduates to understand the world more widely,” Gil says. While students’ core discipline will help to set them up for a job, she says, this is not the sole focus of their degree.
Católica’s entrepreneurship programme is also deliberately transdisciplinary. The pre-acceleration scheme, called Forward!, is a four-month initiative designed to help students, alumni and researchers transform business ideas into working prototypes. “This is crucial,” Gil explains. “Not only is this about experimentation and business success, but in training them to work in multidisciplinary teams. This is what happens in the working world. We have to be able to solve problems together.”
The Institute of Computing and Data Science at Católica is backed by a significant investment in high-performance computing, and aims to promote and support multidisciplinary research projects across the university and beyond. The institute’s capacity is boosted through connections with industrial partners, and the focus is on using this computational power for good. “This is not just about using computational capacity as a tool for big science breakthroughs, we also need coalitions to foster strong reactions and shared values,” says Gil.
Students from disciplines such as social science and the humanities are equally important in steering decisions based on these outputs as they can offer an ethical dimension and consider the ongoing impact of such breakthroughs. Across the university, ethics is not considered to be a standalone discipline. Gil concludes: “In macroeconomics they might be making ethical decisions about social models, or considering truth in political journalism. We need graduates who can think in ethical terms about how they behave, how they act in relation to others, and the situations in which they will find themselves as professionals.”