“A demanding institutional transition process is now beginning, which will be developed in a participatory manner and in close coordination with the academic community and the institution's various partners,” the president of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Carlos Rabadão, told the Lusa news agency.

According to Carlos Rabadão, “throughout this process, spaces for reflection and discussion will be promoted on various strategic and organisational dimensions of the future university, including the approval of the new statutes, the organisational model, and other structuring instruments of the ULO.”

“Enormous significance”

The president of the Polytechnic of Leiria said that the publication of the decree, which followed its promulgation by the Head of State, António José Seguro, is of “enormous significance”, materialising “an ambition long shared by the entire academic community and the region”.

For Carlos Rabadão, ULO “is born with the mission of being a true engine of knowledge, innovation and sustainable development, transforming Leiria and the West into a territory where knowledge generates impact, where talent finds opportunities and where innovation translates into greater competitiveness”.

The Polytechnic of Leiria began its activities in 1980. It has five higher education schools, three in Leiria (Technology and Management, Health, and Education and Social Sciences), one in Caldas da Rainha (Arts and Design) and another in Peniche (Tourism and Marine Technology).

It also has training centres and 15 research units. Its academic community includes 14,500 students and approximately 1,650 professors, researchers, technicians, and administrative staff.

On 21 May, the Council of Ministers, in a decentralised meeting in Pombal (Leiria district), approved the creation of ULO.

The decree-law published today, which will come into effect in two weeks, recognises that the Polytechnic of Leiria “has consolidated, over more than four decades, a very relevant path in higher education and training, research, internationalisation, and a strong connection to the economic and social fabric of the Leiria and Oeste region.”

“(…) It has established itself as a structuring centre for regional development, contributing decisively to the qualification of the population, the modernisation of the business fabric, and the enhancement of the territory, in close coordination with municipalities, companies, and other public and private entities,” the document reads.

Strategic decision

The document argues that the creation of ULO is “a strategic public policy decision, aimed at strengthening territorial cohesion and consolidating the public higher education network, creating conditions to deepen the research capacity of said institution, expanding the offer of university higher education, including doctorates, and intensifying its integration into national and international research and innovation networks.”

The decree-law, which extinguishes the Polytechnic of Leiria, lists, among other aspects, matters relating to students, human resources and assets, adding that ULO assumes “the totality of the attributions and competences and the universality of the rights and obligations” of the former.

“The Higher School of Health of Leiria and the [new] Higher School of Specialised Technicians, integrated into ULO, have a polytechnic nature for all other legal purposes, including the statute of the teaching career.”

The entry into operation of ULO occurs in an installation regime, during which “the governing and management bodies of ULO” are the rector, the installation commission and the management council. “The installation process begins with the entry into force of the provisional statutes of the ULO and with the appointment of the holders of all governing and management bodies,” the document states, and “the draft provisional statutes are submitted by the president of the IPL within 15 days” to the supervisory authority.