The University’s mission is to generate, disseminate and apply knowledge, based on freedom of thought and plurality of critical expression, promoting higher education and contributing to the construction of a model of society based on humanistic principles, which has knowledge, creativity and innovation as factors of growth, sustainable development, well-being and solidarity.
The fulfilment of the mission referred to in the previous paragraph is carried out within a framework of international reference, based on the centrality of research and its close association with teaching, through the pursuit of the following objectives:
a) Human formation at the highest level, in its ethical, cultural, scientific, artistic, technical and professional aspects, through a diversified educational offer, the creation of a suitable educational environment, the enhancement of the activity of its teachers, researchers and non-teaching and non-researching staff, and the personal, social, intellectual and professional education of its students, thereby contributing to lifelong learning and to the exercise of an active and responsible citizenship;
b) To carry out research and participate in scientific institutions and events, promoting the permanent search for excellence, creativity as a source of innovative and differentiating proposals and solutions, and the search for answers to the great challenges of society;
c) The transfer, exchange and valorisation of the scientific and technological knowledge produced, through the development of applied solutions, the provision of services to the community, the holding of ongoing training sessions and support for development, on a reciprocal and entrepreneurial basis;
d) The promotion of activities that enable access to and the enjoyment of cultural assets by all people and groups, both internal and external to the University;
e) Cultural, scientific and technical exchange with national and foreign institutions and bodies, through the mobility of students, teaching and non-teaching and non-research staff, the development of educational programmes and research based on partnerships, the contribution to international cooperation, with special emphasis on European and Portuguese-speaking countries, and the construction of a multilingual environment at the University;
f) Interaction with society, through contributions to public understanding of culture, analysis and the presentation of solutions to major everyday problems, and partnerships for social and economic development, in regional, national or international contexts;
g) The contribution to the social and economic development of the region in which it is located and for the knowledge, defence and dissemination of its natural and cultural heritage;
h) The promotion of its institutional sustainability and competitiveness in the global area.
