General description of the Institute

The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) is a higher education public institution with a defined mission in creating, transmitting and diffusing technical-scientific and professional knowledge through the articulation of study, teaching, applied research and experimental development. IPB belongs to the European Network for Universities of Applied Sciences (UASNET), which main objectives include the transferability of professional skills and the integration of applied research in their professional and technological education mission.
Founded in 1983, IPB is divided into five schools:
School of Agriculture (Escola Superior Agrária, ESA);
School of Public Management, Communication and Tourism (Escola Superior de Comunicação, Administração e Turismo, EsACT);
School of Education (Escola Superior de Educação, ESE);
School of Health (Escola Superior de Saúde, ESSa);
School of Technology and Management (Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão, ESTiG).
Its activity embraces a wide area of knowledge and technology, namely arts, communication and multimedia, business sciences and law, education and teachers training, agriculture sciences and natural resources, health and civil protection, tourism, sports and leisure, and technologies.
In accordance to the current reform of the European higher education system, the present objectives of IPB are to contribute to the increase of higher education frequency, to motivate lifelong learning, to improve the quality and relevance of its academic offer, to promote the mobility of students and graduates and to contribute to a better international cooperation in Europe and with the Portuguese-speaking countries.
The IPB has consolidated its dimension to 8,000 students and has achieved the adequacy to the Bologna process through the offer of around a hundred courses and degrees, namely higher professional technological courses, bachelors and masters programmes.
Nowadays, over 80 per cent of the IPB’s teaching staff holds a PhD degree. The IPB is part of the national system of science and technology, through the existence of R&D units and poles at the IPB. In several areas, the IPB presents indicators of impact and excellence of its scientific publications and applied research: according to the SCImago ranking, the IPB is the Portuguese higher education institution with the greatest normalized impact and the best excellence rate.
The internationalization of the IPB is one of its current strategic challenges, due to the awareness that this will be a positive factor for differentiation among higher education institutions. The last decade has confirmed the IPB as one of the institutions which most extensively promoted academic mobility in Portugal: over 7,000 students and 2,000 teaching and non-teaching staff mobility have transformed the image of the institution. The results obtained have positioned the institution at a level of prominence both nationally and internationally. The IPB integrates the Top 100 of higher education institutions with the greatest number of incoming teachers and the Top 500 of institutions with the highest rate of incoming and outgoing students on Erasmus mobility.
The experience gained in the European mobility project has catalysed the non-European cooperation, with special emphasis on the Portuguese-speaking countries and regions. The IPB has established an academic network with Brazilian Federal Institutes and Universities, as well as with the Macao Polytechnic Institute, representing an annual mobility of nearly a hundred students and the teaching and research cooperation. The presence of a community of students from African Portuguese-speaking countries is also a reality in the institution as a result of the Institute’s involvement in the creation and development of higher education in Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. This will decisively contribute to the qualification of human and academic resources. The cooperation with Macao has allowed the establishment of protocols with Chinese Universities, involving the Portuguese and Chinese teaching and the creation of the Centre for Chinese Language and Culture in Bragança. The IPB has also distinguished itself by offering courses in Portuguese language and culture to foreign students.
Nowadays the IPB is a multicultural institution with 30% of international students. IPB offers to all of its Portuguese and international students a unique opportunity to study and live in a young and innovative academic atmosphere.

Name and address

Instituto Politécnico de Bragança
Campus de Santa Apolónia
5300-253 Bragança
PORTUGAL

Telephone: (+351) 273 303 200
Fax: (+351) 273 325 405
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web page: www.ipb.pt

Academic authorities

President
Orlando Isidoro Afonso Rodrigues

Vice-Presidents
Luis Manuel Santos Pais
Albano Agostinho Gomes Alves

Pro-Presidents
Anabela Rodrigues Lourenco Martins
Dina da Conceicao Jeronimo Rodrigues Macias
Tiago Manuel Cabral dos Santos Barbosa
Vera Ferro Lebres

Student Ombudsman
Elisabete da Anunciacao Paulo Morais

Administrator
Carla Cidalia Ribeiro da Costa

Administrator of the Student Social Services
Elisabete Vicente Viegas Morgadinho Madeira Camelo

ECTS co-ordinator

Luis Manuel Santos Pais

Academic calendar

Academic Year 2023/2024:
Mentoring Academy: from 11/09/2023 to 16/09/2023
1st Semester: from 18/09/2023 to 17/02/2024
2nd Semester: from 19/02/2024 to 13/07/2024
Mentoring Academy is a programme promoting the integration and the academic success of IPB students (https://mentoringacademy.ipb.pt).
Holidays: from 18/12/2023 to 02/01/2024 (Christmas) and from 25/03 to 01/04/2024 (Easter)
Each semester corresponds to 30 ECTS, and will last 19 weeks, including the evaluation period.

General admission requirements

The access requirements for the 1st cycle of studies of Higher Education appear in the description of the Portuguese Higher Education System, provided by NARIC (www.naricportugal.pt/NARIC).
IPB offers several types of degrees and they comprise technological professional courses (CTESP), bachelor degrees (1st cycle of studies) and master degrees (2nd cycle of studies). Application to CTESP and masters programmes is made directly at the institution. Application to bachelor degrees can be made through the National Competition Procedure, organized by the Directorate General of Higher Education (DGES, www.dges.mctes.pt), and aims at students that completed secondary studies in Portugal and had approval in the final exams. Students from foreign education system who are not, and have never been, enrolled in a Higher Education Institution, can also apply for the National Admission Procedure, provided they fulfill all the entry requirements. Alternatively, international students can apply directly, through an institutional admission procedure. Besides this competition there are alternative procedures to apply for a first cycle degree, such as the course transfer for students who are, or have been, enrolled at a foreign higher education institution.
For further information (academic offer, admission requirements, application procedures, recognition of prior learning, and academic calendar) please consult the IPB Admissions’ Portal at www.ipb.pt/admissions and contact the International Relations Office (Natália Santos, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Recognition of prior learning

Following the implementation of the Bologna Process and the consequent legislation regarding the mobility of students among degrees and higher education institutions, prior learning must be recognized and credited. The prior learning concept comprises all the previous learning/training undertaken in other higher education study cycles in national or international institutions (crediting of certified training), as well as previous professional experience and any post-secondary school training or education. As such, the IPB promotes the crediting of the student’s prior learning when arriving at the institution. Aiming at a quick and full integration of the student in his/her new education programme, the recognition procedures must be submitted when enrolling at the IPB. For further enquiries on crediting and recognizing prior learning and training at the IPB (calendars, procedures and assessment criteria), please contact the International Relations Office (Joana Aguiar, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

General registration procedures

Registration and enrolment procedures in the IPB degrees are carried out annually. This procedure can be done either online or at the Academic Services front desk, in agreement with all the regulations and calendars in force. For further information, please check the IPB’s Academic Services webpage on www.ipb.pt/sa.
The registration and enrolment of foreign students in the IPB degree programmes are carried out through the International Relations Office (Joana Aguiar, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
The registration and enrolment of international students in mobility programmes (Erasmus Programme and other programmes resulting from protocols between the IPB and other foreign Higher Education Institutions) are done at the International Relations Office. For more information, please consult the web page www.ipb.pt/iro and contact the International Relations Office (Sylwia Solczak; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

ECTS credit allocation

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) comprises the adoption of a series of tools which enhances transparency and establishes the necessary conditions for an approach between higher education institutions and, as such, enlarges the range of options for students. The use of this system improves comparability, mobility and full recognition of students’ academic results.
The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança makes use of the ECTS as well as of the principles of the Bologna declaration in all of its programmes and also in the implementation of mobility among higher education institutions intra- and extra-EU. You can check this information in this Guide under the option “The ECTS at IPB”. There you can find information on the crediting system, the grading and qualification system, the tools used for students while studying abroad and the diploma supplement.

Academic guidance

Prospective students should consult the IPB Admissions’ Portal at www.ipb.pt/admissions and contact the International Relations Office (Joana Aguiar, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Specific academic guidance can also be obtained from the directive board of each school as well as from the programme director (please check the contacts under the options “schools” and “degrees” of this Guide).
International Students and foreign Higher Education Institutions interested in mobility processes should consult the web page www.ipb.pt/iro and contact the International Relations Office (Sylwia Solczak; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).