Polytechnic Institute of Leiria

The Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (IPLeiria) is a public institution of Higher Education that offers programmes on an Undergraduate Degree, Masters, Post-Graduate, Technology Specialization and Preparation Courses for access to higher education level. It began its activity in 1980 and is present in the Leiria and West region through its five schools, located in the cities of Leiria (School of Education and Social Sciences, School of Technology and Management and School of Health Sciences), Caldas da Rainha (School of Fine Art and Design) and Peniche (School of Tourism and Maritime Technology). IPLeiria has programmes in the areas of: Art and Design, Entrepreneurial and Juridical Sciences, Education and Communication, Engineering and Technology, Tourism and Health.

We’re glad you’re interested in joining our growing community of international students from more than 60 countries! Polytechnic of Leiria is proud of our friendly environment among students, teachers and technicians which help students settle into a new life away from home.

The International Cooperation and Mobility Office (Gabinete de Mobilidade e Cooperação Internacional – GMCI) is a coordinating, supervision and support structure to all of IPLeiria’s initiatives of internationalization. The roles of GMCI are:

• To coordinate and support IPLeiria’s endeavors in the internationalization of education, cooperation and academic mobility.
• To establish contacts with several international institutions within GMCI’s scope, aiming at the establishment / reinforcement of partnerships, as well as the establishment of new cooperation agreements;
• To promote. support, implement and supervise the mobility of IPLeiria and international students, teachers and administrative staff;
• To promote and manage de processes of application to international mobility, including scholarships;
• To develop promotional activities, while acting as an up-to-date information center in academic cooperation and academic mobility;
• To act as the link for both networking and information with partner universities, companies and international networks.

Nowadays, strategic planning is considered an essential management tool, providing orientation and cohesion to the activity carried out by the institutions, characterizing its context in a global manner, and providing clear instructions about the work it needs to develop in order to reach its goals. This is materialized in the strategic plan, a guiding tool in the activity of an institution, in which the procedures to reach the strategic aims and objectives are defined. As the driving force of the institutional activity, it directs the collaborators’ effort towards a common goal.

The Polytechnic of Leiria has progressively assert its connection to the outside world through its participation in initiatives and projects with an impact on social and cultural and economic development of the West region and Leiria by the performance of its faculty teachers, researchers and staff members and the quality and diversity of its activities and projects. This link is, without a doubt, a factor of incremental nature in the development, improvement and endogenization of practices and knowledge. As such, it influences the internal structure of the higher education institutions and their functional adequacy to the challenges of society and the requirements of competitiveness.