The international masters in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC), under co-ordination of the University of Minho, was awarded the European Prize on Cultural Heritage ‘Europa Nostra’, in the ‘Education, Training and Awareness’. This is one of the most important awards worlwide in the field and Paulo Lourenço, the SAHC’s masters programme co-ordinator, will receive the award on May 15th at a ceremony in Turku, Finland. The European Commissioner Tibor Navracsics is attending the award ceremony.

The Master in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions is a one-year teaching project, aiming to provide advanced training in preservation and reconstruction of built cultural heritage. This is a one-of-a-kind training programme in the world, when compared to countless general training courses in heritage conservation. “The built cultural heritage is at risk due to a series of factors, namely natural decay, human intervention, natural hazard and climate change. Europe has been the world leader in the field of conservation of cultural heritage buildings from the very first approaches, through the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution until today”, explains the UMinho’s School of Engineering professor.

This masters has been funded by the European Commission for the last ten years, under the co-ordination of the University of Minho in Guimarães, having such partners as the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Polytechnic Univerity of Catalonia - Barcelona Tech in Spain, and the University of Padua in Italy. The masters programme has had around 400 applications for an average of 35 available openings. The SAHC has a wordwide appeal, with students coming from 62 countries, mainly from Europe, but also from the USA, Iran, China, Colombia, Canada and Mexico. The average applicant age is around 27 years, with a mix of recent graduates and experienced professionals.

Former graduates have earned several grants from the Getty Foundation in the U.S. and won multiple awards for their dissertations. In addition to this, some of these specialists in Monument Structures and Historical Constructions have been hired by leading international consultancy companies and built heritage-specialized firms or have been selected by leading international universities as PhD students.