The School

The Catholic University of Portugal was established in 1967 and is the only national university in Portugal and the one with best reputation (certified by independent evaluation in 2012, based on direct interviews with Portuguese). It is a non-State and non-profit-seeking institution, with full official recognition.

Integrated in the Catholic University of Portugal, the Faculty of Biotechnology (ESB – Escola Superior de Biotecnologia) has the mission of intervening in the scientific, social and economic communities through the development of Teaching, Research and Development (R&D) and Extension initiatives in the Biotechnology field, in order to affirm itself as a forum of international excellence, with a strong national conscience, which reveals and promotes the academic spirit in a humanistic perspective.

ESB started its activity as a higher education institution in 1984 with the creation of the graduate course in Food Engineering. Later, in 1992, the graduate courses in Microbiology and Environmental Engineering were created. Since the beginning, these courses had a strong connection with the broader field of Biotechnology, which has always been the basis of teaching and R&D activities implemented at ESB. When the European higher education system was reorganized according to the Bologna Model, the original three graduated courses were restructured in first- and second-cycle courses in which, once again, Biotechnology was the common feature.

Presently, ESB offers three 1st-cycle courses – Bioengineering, Microbiology and Nutrition Sciences – and four 2nd-cycle courses – Food Engineering, Biotechnology and Innovation, Biomedical Engineering and Applied Microbiology. In the creation of these different academic pathways two main objectives were taken in consideration: on one hand to develop profiles which encompass the central competences of ESB and its Research Centre and on the other hand to have an adequate articulation between 1st- and 2nd-cycle courses.

At the 3rd-cycle level, ESB offers, since 1990, the PhD degree in Biotechnology, converted to the Doctoral Program in Biotechnology, with four areas of specialization – Chemistry, Microbiology, Food Science and Engineering and Environmental Science and Engineering. Two other PhD programs are currently available.