Passion and diplomacy: Universidade Católica Portuguesa reaches out to Europe

Student Council T4EU

“We cannot be afraid” - Francisco Mendes-Palma, Institutional Coordinator Transform4Europe at UCP

For hundreds of years, Europeans squabbled and invaded each other’s countries. The visionary project of peace and economic cooperation, gradually put in place after World War II, which eventually became the European Union, took many decades to become today’s model of relative political integration.

We remember marks of European reconciliation: François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl holding hands in 1984; the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 when it seemed unthinkable Britain would ever again face invasion from continental Europe.

In a politically ambitious speech, delivered at the Sorbonne in September 2017, President Macron of France, a committed European, called for the creation of a network of European universities “which would allow students to study abroad and follow classes in at least two languages”. He foresaw that European strength in research and education would be “absolutely decisive” for the continent’s future.

Alongside the existing umbrella of Erasmus student exchange, a project emerged in 2019.  Within the European Knowledge Alliance Initiative, universities were invited to form alliances between each other. The intention was to foster a fairer Europe with greater solidarity and respect for cultural diversity. To date, there are 64 European alliances among which the Transform4Europe (T4EU) programme sits.

Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) joined T4Eu in May 2022, the only private institution within the alliance and the only confessional university. UCP, with campuses in four cities across Portugal (Braga, Lisbon, Porto and Viseu), leads integration of global and societal outreach strategies within the alliance.

Sara Magno and Francisco Mendes-Palma, T4EU

I recently met with Francisco Mendes-Palma, T4EU Institutional Coordinator at Católica, and Outreach Officer Sara Magno at the stunning new Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian in Lisbon.

Mendes-Palma, an economist by training, explains T4EU crosses three different focal points: digital transformation, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. The emphasis is on societal transformation to benefit the European society of the future.

He makes no bones about the challenges the project frequently faces: “Just imagine your family, 27 members, around a table trying to take a decision!” Although T4EU is a European initiative, higher education policy is determined by member states who get the final say.

“We are preparing young professionals for an open world” – Sara Magno

Magno works on forging strategic partnerships with universities and research institutions across Europe and, increasingly, globally. “Our aim is to create a network of Knowledge Entrepreneurs around Europe. We are preparing young professionals for an open world. We’re offering opportunities for students to experience mobility and interact with people with different mindsets. We’re encouraging European and global contacts.” Magno mentions a recent successful exchange between UCP and the Estonian Academy of Arts, universities at two opposite ends of Europe.

She speaks of the importance of holding events outside the university to generate a wider impact on society, referencing a June 2024 ‘Science Café’ organized at the Gulbenkian, ‘Is War Reparable (by Culture)?’ Science Cafés take place online, so everyone in the alliance can watch.

T4EU is partnering with Ukraine’s Mariupol State University and Ukrainian ‘hot spots’ have been created where Ukrainian academics can continue to teach and students to study.

English is the working language for all courses and contacts between university teams. Students and academics interact online with their peers in other countries, in a spirit of inclusion and integration. Bachelor’s courses mainly take place online, with travel a feature of Masters and Doctoral programmes. Universities across the alliance come together to pool teaching and research expertise in particular disciplines, in the belief that they are stronger collectively than individually.

T4EU Summer School 2024, Lisbon

Joint degrees are an essential aspect of T4EU. Mendes-Palma cites the example of a Masters in Digital Creativity, taught in Porto (Portugal), Silesia (Poland) and Jean Monnet (France) – four semesters in all, one in each university and the fourth wherever the student wishes, with students exposed to different academic environments throughout the duration of the course. Degree courses have international accreditation, while academics are incentivised to travel and teach at different universities within an alliance which offers activities that promote European multilingualism.

Eighty percent of the T4EU budget is financed by the EU, with the remaining 20% from national funding.

Mendes-Palma comments: “We are witnessing the creation of a European higher education market, comparable to the creation in 1962 of the Common Agriculture Policy, with integration that respects differences of culture and language.” There will be a growing openness to non-European partners to provide a global perspective.

When I mention concern the United Kingdom post-Brexit is facing possible academic isolation, he reassuringly states UCP is building cooperation with UK universities, although as a non-EU country, the UK is unable to accede to full membership of the alliance.

“T4EU is a counter movement to trends that build on fear of other” – Sara Magno

Magno comments: “An alliance like T4EU is a counter movement to trends that build on fear of other … people travel, they see difference as normal and something not to be feared.”

Mendes-Palma adds, “we don’t have the friendliest environment right now, but this encourages people who believe in a European framework and projects to be more active.”

“Today we equally need to talk about academic freedom. We’re concerned about this; we should be enjoying freedom to conduct scientific research without concern.

“Portugal is too small to skip any options,” Mendes-Palma reflects. “We have to go after all opportunities. We cannot be afraid; we’re sometimes afraid to depart from our comfort zones and this is harmful to the dynamic of new projects, whether these be in academia, investment or government.”

“We need to take risks. We can’t be a gallery that only shows what it knows will sell,” remarks Magno. 

Mendes-Palma, the economist, concludes with a statement: “Universities are members of a community within which we have to keep being active with global impact.”

First published in The Portugal Resident, September 2025