INOV-NORTE - Centre of Excellence for Pedagogical Innovation in the North Region, Portugal - aims to stimulate experiences of pedagogical innovation and modernisation in six higher education institutions in the region, including the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP). The inaugural meeting of the project took place last May at the Rectory of the University of Porto.

Promoting pedagogical changes for excellence in teaching, in line with contemporary trends that are a reference at national and international level. To this end, INOV-NORTE - Centre of Excellence for Pedagogical Innovation in the Northern Region - has just been born, the result of the initiative of a new consortium involving several higher education institutions in the region: the University of Porto (which is leading the project), the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, the Polytechnic of Porto, the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança and the Nursing School of Porto.

Under the motto "De(Constructing) Academia, Co-constructing Knowledge", this new consortium's mission is to stimulate experiments in pedagogical innovation and modernisation in the context of education and training, and to promote the decentralisation of these initiatives in higher education, strengthening synergies between the university and polytechnic subsystems, the coastal urban centre and the inland regions.

In practical terms, the six participating institutions - which mobilise an academic community of more than 91,000 students - are committed to implementing, over the next two years, "a participatory and representative strategy of inter-institutional cooperation involving the observation and exchange of pedagogical practices and the creation of scale in actions aimed at curricular innovation and pedagogical transformation".

This ambitious project also includes investments in the modernisation of equipment and infrastructure for the installation of teaching and learning support laboratories, the piloting of disruptive projects that facilitate curricular innovation and pedagogical transformation, and the promotion of new training and pedagogical development actions in higher education.

All these activities should “encourage the circulation of teachers, students and technical staff from partner institutions' and thus 'contribute to the consolidation of a collaborative network for the transformation and improvement of teaching and learning processes”, reinforcing the role of interdisciplinary collaboration, the personalisation of learning and the use of new technologies.

“We are very pleased with the integration of the Católica Learning Innovation Lab of the Universidade Católica into the INOV-NORTE consortium. In partnership with other universities and polytechnics, we will strive to promote pedagogical changes in line with the main national and international trends. We are confident that the consortium will be a success and will contribute to consolidating the Northern Region as a centre of excellence in teaching and learning”, says Diana Soares, founder and coordinator of the Católica Learning Innovation Lab (CLIL), which is part of the consortium.

The implementation of the programmes proposed by INOV-NORTE is expected to directly affect around 4,550 students and at least 1,000 teachers from the six partner institutions. In addition, it is hoped that a large-scale impact will be achieved through the integration of innovative teaching and learning experiences in all the academic communities involved.

Programme funded by the PRR

INOV-NORTE took up the challenge offered by the new Impulso Mais Digital, within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Portuguese Republic (PRR).

Designed by the educational innovation managers of the six partner institutions and submitted for evaluation by a jury of national and international experts, the project was approved with a merit increase, reaching the maximum amount of eligible funding (3.75 million euros), to be implemented by June 2026.

This PRR funding will also contribute to the integration of this Centre of Excellence into the future Council for Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education, as a permanent body to promote pedagogical innovation and pedagogical training for higher education teachers, with the support of the Directorate-General for Higher Education.

For this participation, the INOV-NORTE consortium will receive an additional 92,857.14 euros, for a total of 3,842,857.14 euros.