Braga is a city and a municipality in the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga, in the historical and cultural Minho Province. The city has a resident population of 192,494 inhabitants (in 2011),representing the seventh largest municipality in Portugal (by population). Its area is 183.40 km².Its agglomerated urban area extends from the Cávado River to the Este River. It is the third-largest urban centre in Portugal (after Lisbon and Porto).
Braga was selected as a UNESCO Creative City for the field of Media Arts. Since its foundation the city has been in the avant-garde of its different contemporary scenarios, wether it was under the roman empire or during the sumptuous barroque period. With each challenge, the city has become richer in diversity and more curious about near future.
The city was the European Youth Capital in 2012 and UNESCO City of Media Arts in 2017.
It is host to the oldest Portuguese archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church and it is the seat of the Primate Archbishop of Portugal and of the Hispanias (sharing the last title -“of the Hispanias”- with the Archbishop of Toledo and the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela). Under the Roman Empire, then known as Bracara Augusta, the settlement was the capital of the province of Gallaecia. Inside of the city there is also a castle tower that can be visited. Nowadays, Braga is a major hub for inland Northern Portugal.
University of Minho
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.
Founded in 1973, the University of Minho welcomed its first students in the academic year of 1975/76. At present, the University is renowned for its competence and quality of teaching staff, excellence in scientific research, wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses offered and for its high level of interaction with other institutions.
For these reasons, UMinho has a central role in the region and is an important reference for the country and a recognised partner in the European and global scene. Located in the north of Portugal, the University has a campus in Braga and two others in Guimarães, Azurém Campus and Couros Campus.
Originating from the ancient Roman town of Bracara Augusta, Braga is currently the third largest city in Portugal. Guimarães is known as the “cradle of the nation” and is classified as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.
The University’s organisational structure is flexible and conducive to innovation and interdisciplinary research on emerging topics. The teaching and research courses and the Schools and the Institutes are the basic structure of the University: Schools of Architecture, Sciences, Health Sciences, Law, Economics and Management, Engineering, Psychology, Nursing, and the Institutes of Social Sciences, Education and Arts and Human Sciences.
The courses and research projects have a strong international reputation. UMinho is a targeted research university, committed to the value chain of knowledge, in other words: Research, Development and Innovation. It also points to the socio-economic environment, with many successful partnerships in research, cultural and socio- economic development projects.
Internationalisation is a strong commitment and international activities are quite intense, not only within the EU and Portuguese Official Language African Countries (PALOP), but also with several other countries on different continents. The academic year of 2010/2011 was marked by the introduction of a wide range of courses which extended to distance-learning programmes and evening classes. This educational offer had a great social impact and opened the University to a new public, within the framework of demand and quality which has always been the hallmark of this Institution.
The ARTECH 25 Organizing Committee welcomes you to the city of Braga!
It will happen at University of Minho, Portugal
